ST. KATERI TEKAKWITHA – THE LILY OF THE MOHAWKS — A MODEL OF FAITH FOR OUR SUMMER SPIRITUAL GROWTH

During the summer is probably not the best time to write about making progress toward sainthood. It is, however, a good time to call attention to a recently canonized saint who was very important in my own growth in faith and in the lives of many Catholics raised in the Northeast of our country. I call attention to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, because in grade school everyday we prayed for her canonization. Now all of our prayers have been answered. She represents for the striving Christian a model of how to deal with persecution, misunderstanding, being ostracized from family and friends because of faith and devotion to God. She is also a great inspiration during the times that we suffer from illness or life-threatening diseases. Holiness, as Kateri teaches us, is a heroism of faithful practice of the basics of our faith and with a special concern for the sick, aged and vulnerable. These virtues are ones that we can surely practice even during summer vacations.

Kateri was born near the town of Auriesville, New York, in the year 1656, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior. She was four years old when her mother died of smallpox. The disease also attacked Kateri and damaged her face. She was adopted by her two aunts and an uncle. Kateri became converted as a teenager. She was baptized at the age of twenty and incurred the great hostility of her tribe. Although she had to suffer greatly for her Faith, she remained firm in it. Kateri went to a new Christian colony of Indians in Canada. Here she lived a life dedicated to prayer, penitential practices, and care for the sick and aged. Every morning, even in bitterest winter, she stood before the chapel door until it opened at four and remained there until after the last Mass. She was devoted to the Eucharist and to Jesus Crucified.

She died on April 17, 1680 at the age of twenty-four. She is known as the “Lily of the Mohawks.” Devotion to Kateri is responsible for establishing Native American ministries in Catholic Churches all over the United States and Canada. Kateri, was declared venerable by the Catholic Church in 1943 and she was Beatified in 1980.  During the time since she was officially canonized by the Church, hundreds of thousands have visited shrines to Kateri erected at both St. Francis Xavier and Caughnawaga and at her birth place at Auriesville, New York. Pilgrimages to these sites continue today. It is a prayerful and spiritually powerful site to visit since it also is a Shrine to all of the North American Martyrs.

St. Kateri Teckakwitha is the first Native American to be declared a Saint. Her feast day is July 14. She is the patroness of the environment and ecology as is St. Francis of Assisi.

– Msgr. Michael D. McGraw