Faith in History / Sean Gallagher

St. Kateri Tekakwitha is the first Native American declared a saint by the Church

The “Faith in History” column is taking a break from exploring the lives and teachings of the doctors of the Church to put a spotlight on the seven women and three men from America who have been declared saints.

This temporary change in focus is motivated by our country being in the midst of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The order in which we’ll learn about our American saints is by their date of birth. That means the saint for this column is St. Kateri Tekakwitha, which is fitting given that she was a Native American, a part of the people living here when Europeans first arrived.

St. Kateri was born in 1656 in what is now Auriesville in upstate New York, the daughter of a Mohawk chief and an Algonquin woman who had been baptized as a Catholic and later captured in a Mohawk raid.

When Kateri was 4, her parents and her only sibling, a younger brother, died of smallpox. Kateri survived the disease but was left with impaired eyesight and facial scars. She then lived with an uncle and aunt.

When Kateri was 10, she met three members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and was impressed by them. When she began to live according to their teachings, her family opposed her budding Christian lifestyle.

When Kateri was a teenager, her family tried to arrange a marriage for her. Kateri resisted, telling one of the Jesuit priests, “I can have no spouse but Jesus.”

At 18, she was convinced enough in her faith that she began preparations for baptism, which took place on April 18, 1676, Easter Sunday. It was then that she took the baptismal name of Kateri, the Mohawk form of Catherine, since she had chosen St. Catherine of Siena as her patron.

Opposition to her from her family and others in her village increased after this. Kateri fled six months after her baptism, traveling 200 miles to a settlement of baptized Native Americans in Ontario.

Her health was always fragile since contracting smallpox as a child, and Kateri lived only two more years. During that time, though, she made a firm choice on March 25, 1679, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, to dedicate herself to Christ alone. She told a Jesuit priest at the time, “For a long time, my decision on what I will do has been made. I have consecrated myself entirely to Jesus, son of Mary. I have chosen him for husband, and he alone will take me for wife.”

Because of this dedication of herself to Christ, Kateri has become known as the “Lily of the Mohawks.” Although she was not able to formally become a consecrated virgin in the Church, the U.S. Association of Consecrated Virgins has nonetheless taken on Kateri as their patron saint. She is also understandably revered among Native American Catholics across the country and beyond.

Kateri’s cause for beatification and canonization began in 1939, with Pope Pius XII declaring her venerable in 1943. St. John Paul II beatified her on June 22, 1980, and Pope Benedict XVI declared her a saint on Oct. 21, 2012.

Her feast is celebrated in the Church on July 14.

St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks, pray for us. †