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'''Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha''' ({{IPA-moh|ˈgaderi degaˈgwita|pron}} in [[Mohawk language|Mohawk]]), also known as '''Catherine Tekakwitha'''<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20110725115715/http://www.thelifeofkateritekakwitha.net/en/pc/chapter1.html</ref><ref> |
'''Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha''' ({{IPA-moh|ˈgaderi degaˈgwita|pron}} in [[Mohawk language|Mohawk]]), also known as '''Catherine Tekakwitha'''<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20110725115715/http://www.thelifeofkateritekakwitha.net/en/pc/chapter1.html</ref><ref> |
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http://newsaints.faithweb.com/year/1680.htm</ref> informally known as '''Lily of the Mohawks''' (1656 – April 17, 1680) was an [[Algonquin people|Algonquin]] and [[Iroquois]] [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] religious lay woman from [[New France]] (present-day [[New York]]) and an early convert to [[Roman Catholicism]]. Consequently, she was [[shunned]] and [[exile]]d by her [[animistic]] tribe that practiced the [[Native American religion]]. She died at the age of 24 after professing her vows of [[virginity]]. Known for her [[chastity]] and corporal [[mortification of the flesh]], she is the first Native American woman to be venerated in the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. Tekakwitha was [[Beatification|beatified]] by [[Blessed Pope John Paul II]] in 1980 |
http://newsaints.faithweb.com/year/1680.htm</ref> informally known as '''Lily of the Mohawks''' (1656 – April 17, 1680) was an [[Algonquin people|Algonquin]] and [[Iroquois]] [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] religious lay woman from [[New France]] (present-day [[New York]]) and an early convert to [[Roman Catholicism]]. Consequently, she was [[shunned]] and [[exile]]d by her [[animistic]] tribe that practiced the [[Native American religion]]. She died at the age of 24 after professing her vows of [[virginity]]. Known for her [[chastity]] and corporal [[mortification of the flesh]], she is the first Native American woman to be venerated in the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. Tekakwitha was [[Beatification|beatified]] by [[Blessed Pope John Paul II]] in 1980. On February 18, 2012, [[Pope Benedict XVI]] officially announced at [[Saint Peter's Basilica]] that Tekakwitha will be canonized on October 21, 2012. |
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==Origin== |
==Origin== |
Revision as of 11:10, 18 February 2012
Blessed Catherine Tekakwitha | |
---|---|
Virgin[1]; Penitent Religious Lay Woman | |
Born | 1656 Ossernenon, Iroquois Confederacy (New France until 1763, Modern Auriesville, New York) |
Died | April 17, 1680 Kahnawake (near Montreal), Quebec, Canada |
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
Beatified | June 22, 1980, Rome, Italy by Pope John Paul II |
Major shrine | St Francis Xavier Church, Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada |
Feast | July 14 (United States), April 17 (Canada) |
Attributes | Lily flower; Turtle; Rosary |
Patronage | ecologists, ecology, environment, environmentalism, environmentalists, loss of parents, people in exile, people ridiculed for their piety, Native Americans |
Controversy | Shunned and Exiled for her Roman Catholic beliefs |
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (Template:IPA-moh in Mohawk), also known as Catherine Tekakwitha[2][3][4] informally known as Lily of the Mohawks (1656 – April 17, 1680) was an Algonquin and Iroquois Native American religious lay woman from New France (present-day New York) and an early convert to Roman Catholicism. Consequently, she was shunned and exiled by her animistic tribe that practiced the Native American religion. She died at the age of 24 after professing her vows of virginity. Known for her chastity and corporal mortification of the flesh, she is the first Native American woman to be venerated in the Roman Catholic Church. Tekakwitha was beatified by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1980. On February 18, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI officially announced at Saint Peter's Basilica that Tekakwitha will be canonized on October 21, 2012.
Origin
Kateri Tekakwitha was a virgin from virginia and the daughter of Kenneronkwa, a Mohawk chief, and Tagaskouita, a Roman Catholic Algonquin. Tekakwitha was born in the Mohawk community of Ossernenon near present-day Auriesville, New York. Tekakwitha's mother was baptized and educated by French missionaries in Trois-Rivières, like many Abenaki converts. She was captured by the French at the start of a war with the Iroquois and taken to the Mohawk homeland.[5] When Tekakwitha was four, smallpox swept through Ossernenon, and she was left with poor eyesight, and unsightly scars on her face.
This disease outbreak took the lives of her brother and both her parents. She was then adopted by her uncle, who was a chief of the Turtle Clan.[6] As the adopted daughter of the chief, many young men sought her hand in marriage, in spite of her disfigured face. She realized that this was only for political purposes and was disgusted by the idea of a loveless marriage. During this time she took an interest in the Roman Catholic faith. Her mother was Christian and had given Tekakwitha a Rosary yet her uncle took it away and discouraged religious conversion.
In 1666, Alexandre de Prouville burned down Ossernenon. Tekakwitha's clan then settled on the north side of the Mohawk River, near what is now Fonda, New York. While living here, at the age of 20, Tekakwitha was baptized on Easter Sunday, April 18, 1676,[6] by Father Jacques de Lamberville, a Jesuit.
Tekakwitha exercised physical mortification of the flesh as a route to sanctity. She occasionally put thorns upon her sleeping mat and lay on them, while praying for the conversion and forgiveness of her kinsmen. Piercing the body to draw blood was a traditional practice of the Hurons, Iroquois, as well as the Mohawks. Tekakwitha also believed that offering her blood through penances was a way to imitate Christ's crucifixion. She changed this practice to stepping on burning coals when her close friend, Marie Therese, expressed her disapproval[7].
At this time, French missionaries were trying to get as many Mohawks as they could to move from the Mohawk valley back to their headquarters in French Canada along the St. Lawrence River. But the person who convinced Kateri to take a trip to the Saint Lawrence Valley was not a missionary. Rather it was a close family member who lived at Kahnawake and who had accompanied the great Oneida orator Okenheratarihiens (“Hot Powder”) and a Huron from Lorette on a mission trip to the Mohawks. Thus in the autumn of 1676, she and three others travelled to Saint-Louis at the Lachine Rapids, the site of the Iroquois village of Kahnawake. She also found a friend of her mother’s, Anastasie Tekonhatsionko, who helped her in her religious training. In 1679. Kateri took her vows as a nun and lived a life dedicated to prayer, penance, and care for the sick and aged. A year later, on April 17, 1680, Tekakwitha died at the age of 24. Her last words are said to have been Jesus, I love You![6] Miraculous events are said to have occurred after her death.
Baptismal name
At Tekakwitha's baptism, she took the name Catherine, in honor of Saint Catherine of Siena[8]. The word Kateri is an Iroquois pronunciation of the French name. Given that the Christian community in Quebec had at least minimal education, it is likely that Tekakwitha also knew how to pronounce her chosen baptismal name in French. Tekakwitha means 'one who puts things in order'. Tekakwitha's earliest biographers, Father Chauchetière and Father Cholenec, from the years 1695 and 1696, list her name as Catherine, her Roman Catholic baptismal name.
The official beatification register postulated by Rev. Anton Witwer, S.J. to the Roman Catholic Church bears her name as Catherine, while the 1961 edition of Acta Apostolicae Sedis promulgated by Pope John XXIII lists her name as Catherine Tekakwitha, the Virgin.
Epitaphs
Tekakwitha's grave stone reads:
Kateri Tekakwitha
Ownkeonweke Katsitsiio Teonsitsianekaron
The fairest flower that ever bloomed among red men."
Because of Tekakwitha's notable path to chastity, she is often referred to as a Lily flower, a traditional symbol of purity among Roman Catholics. Religious images of Tekakwitha are often decorated with a lily flower and cross, with feathers or turtle as cultural accessories. Other colloquial terms for Tekakwitha are The Lily of the Mohawks (most notable), the Mohawk Maiden, the Pure and Tender Lily, the Flower among True Men, the Lily of Purity and The New Star of the New World. Her tribal neighbors called her The fairest flower that ever bloomed among the redmen.[9] Many devotees often use Tekakwitha's virtues as an ecumenical bridge for many Native Americans who feel shunned or discriminated by early European Christians.
Religious veneration
The process for her canonization began in 1884. In 3 January 1943, she was declared venerable by Pope Pius XII. She was later beatified on June 22, 1980 by Pope John Paul II. On December 19, 2011, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints certified a second miracle through her intercession, signed by Pope Benedict XVI, thereby paving the way for pending canonization[10]. She is the first Native American woman to qualify for Sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church.
Devotion to Tekakwitha is found in three national shrines in the United States, namely the National Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha in Fonda, New York, the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, New York, and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. A statue of Tekakwitha is on the outside of the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec, Canada. In 2007, Tekakwitha was featured along with Junipero Serra, St. Joseph, and Francis of Assisi in the Grand Retablo, a newly installed work by Spanish artisans, standing over forty feet high behind the main altar of the Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, California.[11][12]
A bronze statue of Blessed Kateri kneeling in prayer was installed in 2008, created by artist Cynthia Hitschler,[13] is featured along the devotional walkway leading to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Crosse, Wisconsin.[14] Another life-size statue of Blessed Kateri resides at the National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima in Lewiston, New York.[15]
Tekakwitha was for some time after her death considered an honorary yet unofficial patroness of Montreal, Canada, and Native Americans. Fifty years after her death a convent for Native American nuns was opened in Mexico, who prays and supports her canonization.
In Leonard Cohen's novel Beautiful Losers, Tekakwitha serves as a symbol of salvation.
Reputed miracle
Tradition holds that Tekakwitha's smallpox scars vanished at the time of her death in 1680, causing Pope Pius XII to investigate and declare as an authentic miracle in 1943[16]. There are also claims that many pilgrims at her funeral were healed. It is also held that Tekakwitha appeared to two different individuals in the weeks following her death[17].
On December 19, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI signed and approved the miracle needed for Blessed Kateri's canonization[18]. The authorized miracle dates from 2006 when a teenage boy who had suffered a flesh-eating bacterium after sustaining a lip wound during a sports practice caused facial disfigurement. Unable to survive the surgeries, the parents allegedly claim to have prayed to Jesus Christ through Tekakwitha for divine intercession. The boy had already received his Last Rites from a Roman Catholic priest before the alleged miracle took place[19].
References
- ^ http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS%2053%20[1961]%20-%20ocr.pdf --- Acta Apostolica Sedis, 30 January 1961. Catharinae Tekakwitha, Virginis
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20110725115715/http://www.thelifeofkateritekakwitha.net/en/pc/chapter1.html
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20110725120943/http://www.thelifeofkateritekakwitha.net/en/cc/chapter1.html
- ^ http://newsaints.faithweb.com/year/1680.htm
- ^ Kahenta
- ^ a b c Lodi, Enzo (1992). Saints of the Roman Calendar (Eng. Trans.). New York: Alba House. pp. 419 pp. doi:BX4655.2.L63513. ISBN 0-8189-0652-9.
{{cite book}}
: Check|doi=
value (help) - ^ Jennings, Gary. Life Under the Hurons. Mentor Books.
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20110725115751/http://www.thelifeofkateritekakwitha.net/index.html
- ^ Bunson, Margaret and Stephen, "Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of this Mohawks," Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions brochure, pg.1
- ^ [1]
- ^ IGNATIN, HEATHER (2007-04-19). "Retablo draws crowds at Mission Basilica". Orange County Register. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ Mission San Juan Capistrano: Grand Retablo en Route to San Juan Capistrano, Installation expected March 19, Feb. 9, 2007
- ^ Cynthia Hitschler
- ^ "Mohawk Woman Enshrined at Shrine" (Orso, Joe), La Crosse TribuneJuly 31, 2008:[2]
- ^ Reports, Staff. "Lewiston: Statue Dedication at Fatima". Niagara Gazette. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
- ^ http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20111227/NEWS01/312270006/blessed-kateri-tekakwitha-canonized-saint-lagrange
- ^ http://www.thelifeofkateritekakwitha.net/en/pc/chapter17.html
- ^ http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/28579.php?index=28579&lang=en
- ^ http://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/Vatican-calls-Whatcom-boy-s-survival-a-miracle-2414150.php
11. Nancy Shoemaker, "Kateri Tekakwitha's Torturous Path to Sainthood," in Nancy Shoemaker, ed.
12. Henri Bechard, "Tekakwitha", Dictionary of Canadian Biography (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966) vol.1
External links
- A Lily Among Thorns
- Canadian Dictionary of Biography Online: Kateri Tekakwitha
- Kateri Tekakwitha website
- Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
- Kateri's Life
- The Life of Catherine Tekakwitha, as narrated by Father Claude Chauchetière, 1695
- Blessed Kateri, Model Ecologist
- "Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha". Catholic Encyclopedia.
- A Boy, An Injury, A Recovery, A Miracle?
- Holy Rivalry Over Kateri, Montreal Gazette