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Lucas Jackson / Reuters
A statue of St. Kateri Tekakwitha in Auriesville, New York, seen on Friday.
VATICAN CITY - She was known as Lily of the Mohawks, or the Pocahontas of the Catholic Church. But on Sunday, Kateri Tekakwitha went down in history as the first Native American saint.
Born more than 300 years ago in the Mohawks village of Ossernion - today Ausierville, forty miles from Albany NY - she was one of seven people canonized by Pope Benedict XVI Sunday in an open-air ceremony held in Saint Peter’s Square.
One of the remaining six was also American: Mother Marianne Cope, a 19th century Franciscan nun who cared for leprosy patients in Hawaii.
Kateri had a short life – she died at 24 – and yet, as for most saints, her devotion to Christianity, sacrifices and “heroic virtue” were so inspirational that her legacy survived for generations.
Alessandra Tarantino / AP
Pope Benedict XVI kisses the altar as he celebrates a canonization ceremony, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday.
Her mother was a Christian Algonquin woman who was captured during a raid and given as wife to a Mohawks tribal member. She was born in the middle of the 17th century, a time of infighting between rival American tribes, deadly diseases and colonization. And a time when French Jesuit priests preached in the area, trying to convert locals to Christianity.
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Kateri was only four years old when a smallpox epidemic spread among the Mohawks tribe. Her parents and younger brother were killed and although she survived she was left with permanent scars on her face and an impaired vision. The Jesuit priests were held accountable for having brought the disease, and three of them were slaughtered.
Tiziana Fabi / AFP - Getty Images
A faithful wearing Indian headress attends a special mass to name seven new saints in St Peter's square at Vatican on Sunday.
And yet, at the age of 20, Kateri swapped the Totem for the Crucifix.
She converted to Catholicism after living close to French Jesuit priests, something her family and village saw as a betrayal for siding up with colonizers. She soon became a pariah in her own tribe after refusing to marry a Mohawk man, and was forced to leave the village to practice freely her new faith. She walked hundreds of miles to Quebec, Canada, to join a community of Christian women, and took a vow of lifetime chastity.
Soon her devotion led to self-inflicted painful penances. She is believed to have walked barefoot in show, for whipping herself bloody with reeds, praying hours in an unheated chapel on her bare knees on a cold stone floor or for sleeping on a bed of thorns.
In the end, the punishing penances are believed to have contributed to the weakening of her health, until her premature death at 24 years old. And it was immediately after her death, the legend goes, that it became clear she would be on her way to sainthood. Her smallpox scars, witnesses claimed, miraculously disappeared minutes after her death.
Although the petition for her canonization was filed in 1884, she was only blessed – the first step to become a saint – by Pope John Paul II in 1980.
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The miracle that sealed her sainthood came in 2006, when Jake Finkbonner, then a 5-year old boy from Ferndale, WA, miraculously recovered from a flash-eating bacteria, allegedly through Kateri’s intercession. Jake contracted Necrotizing fasciitis, a potentially deadly infection, after cutting his lip on a baseball field. In a matter of days, his condition became so critical his parents gave him his last rites and discussed donating his organs.
When medical help seemed hopeless, his father Donny, a Catholic member of the native American Lummi tribe, turned to Kateri, already an icon in the local catholic community and the subject of many stories he heard as a child. His congregation prayed Kateri and his mother even placed a small relic, a small piece of Tekakwitha’s wrist bone, on his body. Soon after, Jake recovered.
On his website, Jake also remembers the role played by doctors: “Please don't confuse the issue which is that my survival is a miracle”, he writes. “We thank the doctors at Children's Hospital for all that they did to save my life. I wouldn't be here without them”.
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The canonization of Kateri has been welcomed with mixed feelings in the 2.5 million-strong Native American community. While most of the 680,000 catholic Native Americans are thrilled to finally have their own saint and icon, others still resent the role of Catholicism during the colonial era and the way it affected the indigenous traditions, culture and customs.
Some traveled to Rome to see the ceremony. Dressed in a traditional Indian Squaw brown dress and braided hair, Valery Moran had come from Saskatchewan, Canada, to support her hero. “I am honored to witness the canonization of our first aboriginal saint”, she told NBC News.
"She is my role model, I named my baby after her. My baby is called Kateri."
Bill Volker, a falconer and sole representative of the Comanche Nation, had mixed feelings about the canonization. "It’s bittersweet, but I am delighted. It’s the right direction after all these years,” he told NBC News in St. Peter’s Square. “Our relationship with the all churches have not always been the best in the Americas, but I think this heralds a new day for us”.
The Vatican's complicated saint-making procedure requires that the Vatican certify a "miracle" was performed through the intercession of the candidate — a medically inexplicable cure that can be directly linked to the prayers offered by the faithful. One miracle is needed for beatification, a second for canonization.
The five other new saints are: Jacques Berthieu, a 19th century French Jesuit who was killed by rebels in Madagascar, where he had worked as a missionary; Giovanni Battista Piamarta, an Italian who founded a religious order in 1900 and established a Catholic printing and publishing house in his native Brescia; Carmen Salles Y Barangueras, a Spanish nun who founded a religious order to educate children in 1892; and Anna Schaeffer, a 19th century German lay woman who became a model for the sick and suffering after she fell into a boiler and badly burned her legs. The wounds never healed, causing her constant pain.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
BW--you are soooo correct.Catholics are pagan in themselves and need to be saved..The BIBLE also tells us to not believe in any other teachings but the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And the appearing of anything is not biblical..Most of what the Catholics teach is false so we should try to change their ways.. Their thoughts give me the creeps!
Didn't you "Christians" derive from Catholicism? You so called Christians make me sick, saying you are the only true Christians. You have alot to do with holy wars
Patriot - so funny, your argument is akin to the Easter Bunny calling Santa Clause a fake.
So this is the first Native American to become a Christian? If so, she was a saint immediately! I see nothing in this article to indicate she was a saint, only a religious member.
see comment 151
Never Never ever call a Native American Woman a squaw you will lose whatever fraction of that 680,000 reading this s**t.
She was plus plain nuts.
She basically killed herself so is suicide a cause for saint hood?
Given the atrocities "Christians" committed, including priests and pastors, beating, whipping, and executing, blessing genocidal troops and rarely speaking out, there should be an obverse of proclaiming sainthood, proclaiming condemnation. Millions were murdered by "Christians" in the Americas. One saint does not make a balance. The church needs to repent. But the church is steeped in anti-woman (now anti nun) oligarchy of the few, all men. It is still a force in the United States for conservatives, for those who are functionally racists.
Getmadstaymad,
You're incorrect. Jesus was most certainly a Jew. So were Mary, Joseph, and all the disciples. After the return from Babylon, the Hebrews no longer called themselves Hebrews, but Jews.
And Catholics are certainly Christians ~ they're not two mutually exclusive ways. It's simply one to many ~ Catholics are one community of Christians, among many.
Butterfly Mage,
She didn't see it that way.
These guys would make Bin Laden a saint if they could make a dime off of it! The biggest bunch of hippocrits that ever existed who go which way the wind blows to protect their image. Forget about any image and likeness to Christ these guys drive around in Mercedes and Cadillacs and think nothing of it while they solicit donations using the guilt factor!
Uh, I think you're confusing the Catholic faith with the Protestant TV mega-churches. Yes, now I'm sure of it.
if the dam pope can't find a pedophile in a church how in the hell can he determine who or what is a saint?
5% of Catholic clergy are accused of pedophilia. It is estimated that about 4% of the general population is made up of pedophiles. the Catholic Church is not the only organization to cover up for alleged pedophiles ( I know at least one person who was falsely accused of pedophilia and found not guilty in court when the truth came out, another person who a cop was out to ruin with false charges of pedophilia. The cop was only partially successful.)
At that your comment is less foolish than half the "we hate ourselves for being white " twaddle some have posted. If you feel that way go back to Europe before you finish looting this cotinent and leave nothing for us people with American Indian ancestry?
It's not a question of not being able to spot one--it's a question of what to do afterward. The church does not punish crimes--we have a judicial system for that. The church's sole focus is the spiritual salvation of ALL, and the Pope leads this mission. Who needs the most help? Why, the worst sinners, of course--Jesus taught us that. But, showing compassion to those who commit terrible sins will never make anybody or any organization popular when most of us just want to round up a lynch mob. Huh, does this sound familiar? Can you think of a historical and spiritual figure who was persecuted, to the point of a horrible death, in part for showing compassion to sinners?
I encourage people to take a closer look at what the Church teaches and does throughout the world. It is a shame that Priests have committed crimes such as pedophilia, but those cases are rare and are seen as atrocities, not encouraged. It also does not condemn science. It has made errors throughout history, no doubt. It has also apologized for those errors. You will find no teaching in the Catholic Church that promotes killing, raping, discrimination, etc. As a whole, the Church is good and does wonderful things. That doesn't mean that individuals within it don't make horrible mistakes that tamper its good name.
erich, the pope did nothing and still not doing any thing to these people.
Ah, here we go again. To anybody out there quoting Scripture and venom in equal doses, I'm just gonna say this: You can tell yourself that you've been "born again" and that Christ has saved you, but He has not. Being re-born in Christ (so they tell me--I'm still praying to get to that point) is a fundamental change in the human heart. Once reborn, we will all live in Him--that means nothing but the purest love. Anybody who continues to vilify PEOPLE (as opposed to their sins) has NOT been saved, no matter how many times they tell themselves that they have. Pope John Paul II practiced this in his heart and even forgave the man who shot him--how many of us could do THAT? The Catholic faith is full of people who practiced their faith with the purest selfless love--think of Mother Theresa. It also has plenty of people who have sinned, as you all know. But if the church, preached the mercy and forgiveness of Christ while throwing its own sinners to the dogs in the streets, it would be guilty of the worst kind of hypocracy. All of those who sin in the Catholic church know they have sinned, and the church teaches them in no uncertain terms the penalties to their own souls if they don't repent. But the Church, like Jesus, also practices forgiveness and mercy. If you have never read the catechism of the Catholic church as it exists today, please don't criticize what you don't know or understand.
Does anyone besides me think this is sick and perverted? WTF is wrong with these religious dopes? If a girl did this today, she'd be labeled a "cutter" and given Prozac.
Yes
There were seven new saints cononized based on your second paragraph. But on your last paragraph, you mentioned 5 more new saints. Seems that you are a racist.
Lonereb, I agree with all you write here. You are a true defender of your faith and mine. I despise these people who despise my church for equating evil done by other people in the name of Christ as something the Catholic Church mandated. Why do they always target the RCC? Why don't they medntion the episcopalians, anglicans, the Aglipayans in the Philippines, and the orthodox churches when they mock the liturgy of the bread and blood. In their masses they consecrate the bread or host and wine as Christ's body and blood? Why center all the hatred on the Catholic Church (Roman in particular), maybe they don't know (ignorant is ,I think, the right word) the our church has two rites: Western/Latin or Roman and Eastern. I've read all the comments, favorable and unfavorable, and I appreciate the efforts of those who defend RCC. Is it because the Catholic church is the greatest church that the unbelievers equate her to Christianity. I take it, these people don't understand the word CHRISTIANITY. Believers or followers of Christ outside the Catholic Church are still Christians. Why don't they hate them, too. Why only the Catholic. Why can't all of us people on this planet live together in peace? Butterfly Mage, you are the most hateful. As your pseudonym implies, you fleet around on flimsy wings. Mage? Short for Magus or maggot? I'm praying for you now that you'll be enlightened. I understand that you used to be catholic but because of your sexual orientation, you were ostracized by your family and your local church. They were close-minded that time. I'm sorry for them for their ignorance and you for what you suffered but that was not reason enough to turn your back on Religion. Maybe change your affiliation not become anti religion.
Why single out the Catholic church nurse? Could it possibly be due to the countless children they have raped in their history? And before you bleat about child rape outside the church, [as if that makes it ok that catholic priests do it too!] justify the way the church officials have done everything they could to NOT bring the perps in their ranks to justice. Church documents detailing the coverup date back as far as the 400s. In the old days, children did not DARE say that a priest was raping them, no one, including their parents would ever believe them. The church is nothing but a pedophile cult that raped children with impunity for CENTURIES. Is that enough to make you understand why so many people hate your filthy disgusting church or should we talk about the "witch" burnings, the nazi connection, the bigotry toward gays [now THAT'S rich!] the propping up of evil dictatorships, the anti-contraception ignorance that has CAUSED more poverty than the church has alleviated and helped the aids to spread, the list goes on and on. Maybe it is YOU who should consider a change.
The Catholic Church didn't rape anybody. A few misguided individuals may have comitted rape--as they have done in the Boy Scouts, Congress, the military, our schools, and just about any other organized enterprise you care to name. These are human failings, not institutional failings of the church. We can argue all day about appropriate criminal punishment for those responsible, but the Church is not the judicial system--it has to consider the spiritual salvation of both the perpetrators AND the victims. We can also argue all day about what would constitute proper care for the victims, but I'll tell you this much: handing over the sinners to the men with the pitchforks and giving in to a spirit of bloodthirsty vengeance is not going to be good for ANYBODY'S soul. The fact that the perpetrators have committed grievous sins before God is exactly why the church CAN'T just abandon them. Remember when Jesus ate with the sinners and tax collectors? You should talk to a few Catholics, maybe even a few priests. You will find that the VAST majority are pretty decent people, despite our sins. The most amazing thing to me is that the God of Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims is the SAME, and his fundamental teachings are the SAME, yet we can't seem to get past the differences. God says to forgive, so let it go, fer cryin' out loud! The baggage we all carry about each other's religions keeps ALL of us from truly changing our hearts to answer the call of our own.
Right.....the Catholic church merely conspired to cover up rape, and conspired to move known pedophiles to unsuspecting communities where they raped countless more children.
This is a typical media comment site with hateful and historically inept antiAmerican comments posted by eurasian-based posters posting from across the ocean with their attempts at out-of-africa government warpings of science and history. Government posters from eurasia, as well as the africa bell-jar they historically attempt to own but aren't evolved from either, don't like to mention other indigenous Americans who didn't use such Indian-status, from George Washington to Howard Hughes to Patton to Donovan to Watson, and I won't even touch the transparent political sinew of media culture distortions.
Not the first of these American saints as mentioned, this one was typically worked through Canada, the british connection highway within America. As fictitious as Tekakwitha was and is, being a completely political construct created by the eurasian government that owns and is the catholic faith and all the heinous pantheon monopoly of eurasian religious orders, it should be noted that the mentioned Americans in attendance in europe were entirely local acting representatives appointed by those local government auspices, much as they do in the movies and in the democrats, and not actual Americans. Something to note.
Unfortunately for them and for religion, America chooses free thinking and progress over being an island of dictatorial despair, and the recent age of counter-terrorism is already evolving into a new age of hemispherical union that won't be so easily hit by either 3 romantic ships or 4 endemic planes.
Yes, the Tea-Party Revolution will regain the true identity of the American, and the Native American. I wish there was a Tea-Party in Peru so the Inkas can again be the MOST CIVILIZED COUNTRY that ever existed. Only better by embracing the power of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. AD DOMINEM DEI GLORIAM!!!!
evil child molesting bastard making saints LMAO go to hell pedophile
I noticed that her statue was that of a white skinned woman with brown hair.