So the missionary baptized her. But everyone made fun of her new beliefs. So at the age of 20, Kateri ran away to Canada. There she led a holy life. She taught children about God. She cared for sick and old people.
Tekakwitha was adopted by her two aunts and her uncle, also a Mohawk chief. After the smallpox outbreak subsided, Tekakwitha and her people abandoned their village and built a new settlement, called Caughnawaga, some five miles away on the north bank of the Mohawk River. In many ways, Tekakwitha's life was the same as all young Native American girls. It entailed days filled with chores, spending happy times with other girls, communing with nature, and planning for her future.
Tekakwitha grew into a young woman with a sweet, shy personality. She helped her aunts work in the fields where they tended to the corn, beans, and squash, and took care of the traditional longhouse in which they lived.
She went to the neighboring forest to pick the roots needed to prepare medicines and dye. She collected firewood in the forest and water from a stream. Despite her poor vision, she also became very skilled at beadwork. Although Tekakwitha was not baptized as an infant, she had fond memories of her good and prayerful mother and of the stories of Catholic faith that her mother shared with her in childhood.
These remained indelibly impressed upon her mind and heart and were to give shape and direction to her life's destiny. She often went to the woods alone to speak to God and listen to Him in her heart and in the voice of nature. When Tekakwitha was eighteen, Father de Lamberville, a Jesuit missionary, came to Caughnawaga and established a chapel. Her uncle disliked the "Blackrobe" and his strange new religion, but tolerated the missionary's presence.
Kateri vaguely remembered her mother's whispered prayers, and was fascinated by the new stories she heard about Jesus Christ, Son of the Holy Virgin. Her dedication to virginity was instinctive: Kateri did not know about religious life for women until she visited Montreal. Inspired by this, she and two friends wanted to start a community, but the local priest dissuaded her. She practiced extremely severe fasting as penance for the conversion of her nation.
Kateri Tekakwitha died the afternoon before Holy Thursday. Witnesses said that her emaciated face changed color and became like that of a healthy child. The lines of suffering, even the pockmarks, disappeared and the touch of a smile came upon her lips.
She was beatified in and canonized in We like to think that our proposed holiness is thwarted by our situation. If one were with her, it did not take long to be touched by it, and to be warmed with this heavenly fire.
From the time she had any knowledge of this great Sacrament, she remained devoted to it and delighted in it until her death. Kateri would spend hours or even entire days in Eucharistic Adoration in the church, even during the coldest weather in Canada. In order to always keep the image of the Cross in mind, Kateri wore around her neck a small crucifix, frequently kissing it with feelings of gratitude. Kateri died on April 17, , at the age of Moments after dying, her scarred face miraculously cleared and was made beautiful by God.
This miracle was witnessed by two Jesuit priests and all the others able to fit into the room. Many miracles were to follow.
Three people had visions of her in the week following her death. A chapel was built near her grave, and soon pilgrims began to visit, coming to thank God for this Holy Woman. Kateri is recognized for her heroic faith, virtue, and love of God and people, in the face of adversity and rejection, as well as her close connection with the natural world around her. Indigenous Catholics worked tirelessly for many years to have Kateri canonized by the Catholic Church.
The Church declared Kateri venerable in Saint Kateri recognized the inherent dignity of all people, and thus offers a bridge of peace between European and other immigrants and the Indigenous Peoples; between people and all of creation, and between people and God.
Tekakwitha is occasionally spelled Tegakouita. Father Claude Chauchetiere painted this portrait of Saint Kateri, a few years after her passing. Saint Kateri is venerated for her heroic faith, virtue, and love of Jesus, in the face of adversity and rejection.
Pope Francis has said that Catholics can learn a lot from Indigenous People and their love for the land. Saint Kateri, pray for us. She was baptized at twenty years of age and, to escape persecution, she took refuge in Saint Francis Xavier Mission near Montreal. There she worked, faithful to the traditions of her people, although renouncing [some of] their religious convictions until her death at the age of twenty-four.
Leading a simple life, Kateri remained faithful to her love for Jesus, to prayer and to daily Mass.
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