Catholic Feast Days: Kateri Tekakwitha

She was the first person born in North American to be beatified by the Roman Catholic Church. With the title "Blessed", she's just one step away from being named a saint.

Born in 1656 in Ossernenon, New York, Kateri Tekakwitha was the product of a mixed marriage. While her mother was a Catholic Algonquin Indian, her father was a Mohawk. Her web site suggests that she was influenced by the fervent Christianity of her mother and the priests in black robes who lived in her midst. She is said to have lived a life of remarkable virtue and remained a Christian virgin.

The oldest portrait of this daughter of the Church dates between 1682 and 1693. The oil painting measures 41" x 37" and was created by a Fr. Chauchetiere. It's now displayed in the sacristy of St. Francis Xavier Church on the Kanawake Mohawk Reservation on the St. Lawrence River near Montreal.

The woman many hope will become the patron saint of Native Americans suffered huge losses as a child. At age four, her parents and younger brother died during a smallbox epidemic. Kateri herself was left disfigured and half blind.

She was then adopted by an uncle who succeeded her father as a Mohawk chief. Despite his hatred of the Blackrobe missionaries in the area, he could do little about them due to a peace treaty with the French that required them to be in villages with Christian captives.

Kateri was profoundly affected by the message of the missionaries. At 19, she converted to Catholicism after refusing to marry a Mohawk brave. When baptized that Easter Sunday, she took the name Kateri, or Catherine.

From this point on, she was treated as a slave. Refusal to work on Sundays meant she received no food on those days. Though she meditated and grew in a life of grace, she remained in constant danger. During the night, on the advice of a priest, she left the village and began a 200-mile walk to a Christian Indian village located at Sault St. Louis.

Kateri Tekakwitha took a vow of virginity at age 23. This was an unheard act for an Indian woman, whose future was totally dependent on being married. Eventually, she lived in the woods, where she was free to pray an hour each day.