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Kateri
Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
The confirmation season is upon us. It will be my privilege to
administer the sacrament of confirmation to approximately 1,000 people
over the next two months. It’s exciting.
Candidates for the sacrament of confirmation are expected to take the
name of a saint or “blessed” when they are confirmed. In my case it was
St. Joseph. This is reflected in my episcopal coat of arms. There is, of
course, a rich pool of saints and people who have been declared
“blessed” by the Church. Candidates come up with a variety of names. For
example, Kateri Tekakwitha has become a popular choice. Who was she?
Tekakwitha was a Mohawk Indian born in 1656 in what today is the state
of New York. Her mother was a Christian from the Algonquin Tribe who had
been taken captive by a Mohawk war chief. The chief, not a Christian,
honored Kahenta (Tekakwitha’s mother) as a full-fledged wife. She bore
him a son and a daughter.
Tekakwitha, also called Tegarouita or Tegakhouita, means she who puts
things in order or she who cuts the way before her. Four
years after her birth, smallpox swept through the Mohawk settlement. It
left her mother, father and brother dead. Tekakwitha herself became
desperately ill, but was nursed by Mohawk matrons and survived. Her
sight was severely damaged and her skin pocked by the smallpox. An
uncle, Iowerano, adopted her. Because she was a high ranking Indian
maiden and an orphan, she was given special attention and care.
Tekakwitha learned domestic duties. Her impaired vision did not
interfere with close work. She became noted for her ability to decorate
blouses and skirts made of skins with beads, quills, shells, stones and
feathers.
The Mohawks were part of a five-nation confederacy of the Iroquois. The
lands of the Iroquois stretched from the area just south of Lake
Ontario, through the Finger Lakes, along the Mohawk River and into
Appalachia. The Mohawks resided in the region from the Hudson River,
through Lake George, Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River. They lived
in large communities called “castles.”
Tekakwitha’s mother wasn’t free to practice her Christian religion
openly in the Mohawk domain, but she kept the memory of the Jesuit
martyrs of the area in her heart. St. Isaac Jogues and St. John de
Brebeuf and their companions had been slain by the Mohawks while
proclaiming the Gospel to the tribes in the region.
Biographers opine that Kahenta may have sung Catholic hymns to
Tekakwitha as she carried her about in an elaborate Mohawk cradle, and
she may have even prayed with her small daughter when they were alone.
However, Tekakwitha was 14 before a Catholic mission was opened in her
“castle.” It was staffed by three Jesuits from Canada. Tekakwitha’s
uncle served as host during the visit of the priests, which meant that
Tekakwitha would have had contact with her uncle’s guests. After a
mission was officially opened, Tekakwitha had an opportunity to observe
Catholic liturgical ceremonies. Observing and listening, she became
attracted to Catholicism and, to the surprise of her “pagan” family,
requested baptism.
Baptized at the age of 20 on Easter Sunday in 1676, she took the name
Kateri or Catherine after St. Catherine of Siena, the great Italian
mystic.
Life after baptism was not easy. She became known as the “Christian,” a
name used with scorn. Even small children of the settlement followed her
about and made fun of her because she was different, perhaps even a bit
mad by their standards. More menacing was confrontation with a young
Mohawk warrior who promised that if she did not give up her Christian
ways he would kill her. With the help of a Christian chief who happened
to visit Tekakwitha’s “castle,” she was hustled off to the mission of
St. Francis Xavier de Sault, where some 120 to 150 Christian Indians
resided. This assured a safe environment.
At the mission Kateri was able to attend Mass each morning. The Blessed
Sacrament was available throughout the day, and vespers were recited at
3 o’clock in the afternoon. While maintaining steadfast hours of prayer
and meditation, she also performed daily tasks. She adopted what St.
Therese of Lisieux called the little way: the day-to-day sanctification
of normal, average obligations by dedicating them solely to Christ.
Biographers say that “she did not seek relief, even when she was ill or
exhausted. She bore the calamity heaped upon her and walked bravely on a
path that others scorned because she had glimpsed the welcoming embrace
of Christ.”
On a trip to Montreal, Kateri discovered women religious. She was deeply
moved by the way the sisters cared for others in hospitals and schools
and lived only for Christ, whom they considered their spouse.
Upon return to the Sault Mission, she asked to enter the convent but was
dissuaded because no one could envision an Indian woman in a convent.
Her response was to make a vow of perpetual virginity. The following
year her health began to fail and she died on Wednesday of Holy Week in
1680. She was 24 years of age. Her last recorded words were: “Jesus, I
love you.”
After death, the body of Kateri took on a lustrous radiance and the
scars that had been on her face since childhood disappeared. Six days
after her death, she appeared to one of the mission priests. Others had
visions of her as well. Considered a saint by those at the Sault
Mission, devotion to Kateri Tekakwitha began almost at once. Novenas
were recited and Masses celebrated. Within months, favors were recorded
as a result of her intercession.
Pope Pius XII declared her venerable in 1942. Pope John Paul II declared
her blessed on June 22, 1980. A miracle is needed before she can be
canonized.
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha was a child of the American wilderness. She
was perceived to be a genuine mystic. Encountering such a mystic in the
wilds of North America was perplexing to the French Jesuits who
instructed her in the faith, baptized her and witnessed her vow of
perpetual virginity. Yet, known as the Lily of the Mohawks, the Mohawk
Maiden, the Fairest Flower among True Men, the Pure and Tender Lily, she
serves as a bridge between the Catholic faith and modern Native
Americans.
The prayer for the canonization of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha is: “O God,
who, among the many marvels of your grace in the New World, did cause to
blossom on the banks of the Mohawk and of the St. Lawrence, the pure and
tender lily, Kateri Tekakwitha, grant we beseech you, the favor we beg
through her intercession; that this young lover of Jesus and of his
cross may soon be counted among her saints by Holy Mother Church, and
that our hearts may be enkindled with a stronger desire to imitate her
innocence and faith. Through the same Christ our Lord Amen.”
Miracles do happen! Kateri Tekakwitha, pray for us. |
