Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

LilyOf The Mohawks

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

by Brother Joseph, M.I.C.M.

The Church says anyone can be a saint if he cooperates with the graces
God gives him. And to prove it the Church gives us examples of saints,
not as pictures to look at, but as people of heroic virtue to imitate.
We would like to present a short sketch of the life of an American
Indian who was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 22, 1980. We hope
it will serve as an inspiration of courage and bravery to the boys and
girls today that many of them will respond to God's call to become
saints.

In Ossernenon (Auriesville, N.Y.) ten years after the death of the
Jesuit martyrs Isaac Jogues and John de Lalande, on the same soil that
was blessed with the sprinkling of their holy blood, a lily sprung
forth, the lily of the Mohawks, America's first native American saint,
Kateri Tekakwitha.

Her mother Kahenta was an Algonquin converted by the Black Robes and
taken captive during the savage Iroquois invasions.

She was taken to wife by a Mohawk chief thus escaping torture and death.

In 1656 they brought into the world Tekakwitha ("one who puts things in
order"). The pure crisp forest air seemed to blow enchantingly upon this
happy family for about four years when in the providence of God,
smallpox left Tekakwitha an orphan, scar-faced and partially blind.
Though Kahenta was Catholic, Tekakwitha had never been baptized. To make
things worse she was left with some aunts and a chief who was her uncle,
all of whom hated the Black Robes and their beliefs. Tekakwitha loved
solitude, first because of her eyesight, but also she sensed the
dissolute life among the Mohawks was wrong. When she was about ten, the
French, with a force of soldiers 600 strong, came and humbled the
hitherto bold and treacherous Iroquois.

A peace treaty was signed which gave the Black Robes freedom to preach
the faith in the Mohawk villages.

Poor Tekakwitha's heart burned with desire to learn all she could and be
baptized. But this was almost impossible because of the bigotry of her
uncle. Her life, however, ran along much like that of all the Indian
girls cheerfully doing their many chores. You could see Tekakwitha
sometimes with the others down at the stream fetching water, laughing
and talking like any group of girls. But whenever a bank of braves would
appear with their pelts from a hunt to lay them at the feet of a young
squaw to ask marriage, Tekakwitha would disappear.

For awhile she was only able to catch bits and pieces of the faith
whenever the missionaries were around. The light shone in the darkness
and she comprehended it. Her desires were fulfilled in 1675 when Father
de Lamberville, S.J. arrived at her cabin one day while she was nursing
a wound on her foot. Tekakwitha unburdened her long tortured soul and
heart to him. She asked for instruction and baptism.

Because of the unpredictable life led by most Mohawks,
baptism was usually held off for two years. However in Tekakwitha's case
a month proved her faith and purity solid. On Easter Sunday April 5,
1676 Tekakwitha, twenty-one years a child of the forest, was made a
Child of God through baptism. She was given the name Kateri (Catherine).
Many were the crosses she would have to carry till the end of her short
life.

Kateri's relatives wanted her to marry. But she wanted to give herself
to Jesus, body and soul, as a virgin.

Once a brave threatened to kill Kateri if she refused him. She refused,
but he, in awe of her spiritual strength, left defeated. Children and
sometimes drunken men used to chase her and pelt her with stones calling
her "the Christian." Her own relatives treated her as a slave. Once they
even spread lies against her chastity just to get the priests to dislike
her. Through all this Keteri kept her interior peace knowing as she
looked past the towering pines into the soft blue sky, that God and his
holy Mother were pleased with sending her these crosses and that is all
she cared. Father de Lamberville, however, thought it wise for Kateri to
escape from her uncle up to the Indian mission in Canada.

The opportunity for doing so and the exciting escape up the three
hundred mile trail to the mission we are forced to pass over, just
mentioning that it occurred on July 14, 1677.

When she arrived at the mission in the autumn, Kateri fell completely in
love with God. Because she realized God created us to know, love, and
serve him in this world and be happy with him forever in Heaven, the
faith she possessed was firm and simple as it was childlike.

Father Cholonec, S.J., the confessor of Kateri, was impressed with all
he saw and heard of her. He allowed her to receive her First Holy
Communion the Christmas day after she arrived.

Kateri couldn't read or write but she rapidly advanced in perfection by
doing the will of others, especially Father Cholonec. For a while,
however, she took it upon herself to mortify her flesh so that her
spirit could take flight to God. Among many penances, she once branded
herself a slave of Jesus. Her confessor eventually made her mitigate
these self-inflicted austerities. Then the cross came from the outside
again. Some Indians thought she should marry; others, seeing her often
retire to a private prayer spot in the forest, spread rumors against her
chastity. Kateri endured it all with patience, knowing in good time God
would make the truth manifest.

She always wanted to be a Bride of Christ and on March 25, 1679 with
Father Cholonec's permission she did so, consecrating herself entirely
to Jesus and His sweet mother Mary. Never was she seen without her
rosary. She knew that Mary was the only gate God chose to enter the
world by, and that she is the only gate through which to enter Heaven.
In her child-like faith she knew that Jesus being God gave us God for
our Father and being man gave us Mary for our mother. These truths were
the treasure that filled her soul with delight.

Her deep devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament kept her hours at
the altar talking with Him as a child would with his dearest friend.

This chaste lily, which grew up among thousands, had bloomed and her
goodness attracted all those in the mission. Many lukewarm souls were
made fervent; many fallen away got back on the right path of salvation.
But flowers don't last long in this world, especially when God wants to
transplant them to adorn His throne. For the last year of her life,
Kateri's health had completely broken down from her austerities and a
sickness which gave her severe pains in head and stomach for the last
two months of her life, The pain was so great she was not able to move
an inch. She had never lost her peace or patience, knowing that the end
was drawing near when she would see her Spouse and His Blessed Mother
face to face and be happy with Them forever. On Wednesday of Holy Week,
April 17, 1680, Kateri spoke her last words: "Jesus and Mary." Then her
speech failed and after a half hour of agony she died as if falling into
a sweet sleep.
Her face, disfigured by austerities and sickness, was
instantly made fresh and beautiful by God as a sign of her glory in Heaven.
Kateri was twenty-four years old when she died.
Now Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha is looking down from Heaven upon America
and calling us all to follow her example in the midst of this new
paganism, so that one day we will meet face to face in Heaven forever.