It is time to turn the clock back to the 17th century. Many indigenous women converted to Christianity. One is remembered as the first Native American woman to be declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church – Kateri Tekakwitha.
Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680 – Mohawk/Algonquin)
Kateri Tekakwitha was born to an Algonquin mother and a Mohawk father in the village of Ossernenon (now Auriesville, New York) in 1656. When she was four years old there was a smallpox outbreak, and most of the people died including her parents and a brother. She survived but was weak and had health problems for the rest of her life. Her face was badly scarred and her eyesight was damaged. Her Mohawk name, Tekakwitha, which means “she who bumps into things,” was probably given to her due to her poor eyesight.
After the smallpox epidemic her entire village was burned down. Kateri was adopted by her aunt and uncle who succeeded her father as chief. They moved to the community of Kahnawake (Caughnawaga). While living in this village Kateri became skilled in beadwork and basket weaving. When she was thirteen she was engaged to a young boy, but she had already decided to remain unmarried. “I can have no spouse but Jesus,” she told the priest. “I have the strongest aversion to marriage.”
The Mohawks and the French signed a peace treaty. Part of the requirements for the Mohawks was to allow Jesuit missionaries into the settlements. The people called them “Blackrobes.” Kateri listened with fascination to the stories about Jesus and salvation as told by the Jesuits. She became converted. She told Fr. Jacques de Lamberville that she desired to be baptized and she was on easter Sunday 1676. The water used was from the spring that is still located on the grounds of her Shrine today.
The decision was not an easy one for her. Her uncle hated the Jesuit “Blackrobes” and did everything he could to prevent their work. Native children laughed at her and called her names as “the Christian” and “the Algonquin.” Life became unbearable for her. Some people who sympathized with her helped her to move to the Mission of Saint Francis Xavier in LaPrairie, Quebec, Canada. She took her first communion on Christmas Day in 1679. On the Feast of the Annunciation she took a vow of perpetual virginity. While she was there she decided to become a nun.
Due to her youth and her health the priests discouraged her from her goal. She replied to them, “I will willingly abandon this miserable body to hunger and suffering, provided that my soul may have its ordinary nourishment.” She made friends with another young woman called Marie Therese Tegaianguenta. The two of them thought maybe they would found a Native religious order for women, but the Jesuit missionaries rejected their suggestion.
Kateri spent her time helping others and in prayer. It was said that she would slip off into the woods every day to pray for her people for an hour. Some who opposed her because of her holy life accused her of meeting a man there, but those who knew her best knew that she was pious and honest and determined to be chaste for the rest of her life. Kateri practiced extreme severe fasting as a way of repentance for her nation and their conversion. Her face, which was already marked by the smallpox, became emaciated and very unsightly. She was saddened as people turned away when talking to her. She knew that her looks were repulsive, but she continued to fast and pray.
In 1680 Kateri contracted the tuberculosis which she later died from. She died on April 17, 1680. Traditionally her last words were, “Jesus, Mary, I love you.” Witnesses claim that her scarred face was transformed at death, changing color and becoming soft and smooth like a child’s. The pockmarks and lines of suffering had disappeared and there was a smile on her lips.
Kateri’s tomb is found at St. Francis Xavier Mission in the Mohawk Nation at Kahnaqake, near Montreal, Quebec. Within weeks pilgrimages to her tomb began. She was venerated by Pope Pius XII in 1943 and beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II. On October 21, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI canonized her. She was the first Native American woman to be canonized. Her feast day is July 14.
A creative story, written by Diane Glancy[1], called The Reason for Crows, tells the story of Kateri Tekakwitha. Takeri would later become known as the “Lily of the Mohawks.” The story is told through the voices of Kateri and the Jesuit missionaries. It begins with:
KATERI: The moaning was my first memory. I think it was them – my mother and father. They died in the smallpox epidemic with my infant brother.”[2]
While much of Kateri’s thoughts were imagined by Diane Glancy, she was able to rely on Jesuit writings for much of the story of Kateri’s actions. They also wrote down some of her sayings. Here are a few:
“Look at this cross. Oh, how beautiful it is! It has been my whole happiness during my life, and I advise you also to make it yours.”
“Who will teach me what is most pleasing to God, that I may do it?”
“I am not my own. I have given myself to Jesus. He must be my only love.”
“If I should become sick and unable to work, then I shall be like the Lord on the cross. He will have mercy on me and help me, I am sure.”
Kateri’s life is a very inspiring story. A national shrine was built to honor Saint Kateri to encourage others to continue her legacy of devotion and healing. She is seen as a bridge between European and Native American cultures. She has been honored by French priests, the Jewish songwriter Leonard Cohen, and Native American mystics. She is a friend to exiles, orphans, outsiders, and people ridiculed for their beliefs. She is a patron saint for indigenous people, the environment and ecology. She is the Protectress of Canada.
[1] Read more about Diane Glancy on this site, November 5, 2024, https://authormarywalker.com/?s=Diane+Glancy
[2] Glancy, Diane. The Reason for Crows: A Story of Kateri Tekakwitha. (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, Excelsior Editions, 2009) p. 3.
