Tekakwitha, Kateri, Saint, 1656-1680

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Kateri Tekakwitha (pronounced [ˈɡaderi deɡaˈɡwita] in Mohawk), given the name Tekakwitha, baptized as Catherine and informally known as Lily of the Mohawks (born 1656, Ossernenon, New York – died April 17, 1680, Kahnawake (near Montreal), Quebec, Canada), was a Catholic saint and virgin who was an Algonquin–Mohawk. Born in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, on the south side of the Mohawk River in present-day New York State, she contracted smallpox in an epidemic; her family died and her face was scarred. She converted to Catholicism at age nineteen, when she was baptized and given the Christian name Kateri in honor of Catherine of Siena. Refusing to marry, she left her village and moved for the remaining five years of her life to the Jesuit mission village of Kahnawake, south of Montreal on the St. Lawrence River in New France, now Canada.

Kateri Tekakwitha took a vow of perpetual virginity. Upon her death at the age of 24, witnesses said that her scars vanished minutes later, and her face appeared radiant and beautiful. Known for her virtue of chastity and mortification of the flesh, as well as being shunned by some of her tribe for her religious conversion to Catholicism, she is the fourth Native American to be venerated in the Catholic Church.

Kateri was beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II, and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Basilica on 21 October 2012. Various miracles and supernatural events are attributed to her intercession.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Collection of relics and reliquaries, 1795-1999 University of Dayton
referencedIn Tekakwitha Conference (Great Falls, Mont.). Records, 1939-[ongoing], undated. Marquette University Raynor Memorial Library, John P. Raynor Library
referencedIn Chauchetière, Claude, 1645-1709. The life of blessed Catherine Tekakwitha now called the Holy Savage : typescript, 1887 / by the Reverend Father Claude Chauchetiere missionary priest of the Company of Jesus. Boston College. John J. Burns Library
referencedIn Onondaga Historical Association (Syracuse, N.Y.). Onondaga Historical Association video collection. New York State Historical Documents Inventory
referencedIn Scheuerman, Anne M. Collection, 1973-, undated Marquette University Raynor Memorial Library, John P. Raynor Library
referencedIn Cholenec, Pierre, 1641-1723.. Life of Catherine Tekakwitha : first Iroquois virgin : typescript, after 1913 / Cholonec. Boston College. John J. Burns Library
referencedIn Kateri Tekakwitha Project Oral History Collection. Marquette University Raynor Memorial Library, John P. Raynor Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Chauchetière, Claude, 1645-1709. person
associatedWith Cholenec, Pierre, 1641-1723.. person
associatedWith Hary, Nicoletta Mattioli, 1927- person
associatedWith Onondaga Historical Association (Syracuse, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Scheuerman, Anne M. person
associatedWith Tekakwitha Conference (Great Falls, Mont.) corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Subject
Mohawk Indians
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1656

Death 1680-04-17

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