St kateri

St. Kateri Tekakwitha is the First Indigenous North American to be baptized a saint by the Catholic Church. She was born in 1656, in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon. Her mother was an Algonquin, who was captured by the Mohawks and who took a Mohawk chief for her husband. She contracted smallpox as a four-year-old child which scarred her skin. The scars were a source of humiliation in her youth. She was commonly seen wearing a blanket to hide her face. Worse, her entire family died during…

The recent canonization of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, and her feast day this week, brings to the fore the issue of Native Americans and their many spiritual elements. Across North America are various signs of those influences. On

Saint Kateri’s feast day is coming up on July 14th! Today I am sharing with you ways to celebrate this special feast day. First here is a quick story about how we decided to name

Today we spent a wonderful day at the National Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. We attended Mass in the morning with some new friends and then toured the beautiful grounds of this lovely, peaceful shrine. Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha lived most of her life at this location in NY along the Mohawk River. Luke praying the Glory Be prayer.....it is the prayer we learned this past week and he prayed it so reverently, I know his prayers were heard. Inside the chapel where we attended Mass. It is…

St. Kateri Tekakwitha

St. Katari Tekawitha...the 1st Native American Saint .

» Further Learning | Web resource for First Holy Communicants & Teachers

Today marks the feast of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. Four years ago, when she was canonized, I preached a homily about her, mentioning that the reredos behind our altar included a small statue of this new saint. I noted that it was dedicated decades before she was even beatified, and that her journey to sainthood was not exactly brief: