Our Patron Saint

1656 - 1680

In April 1656, a baby was born in an Iroquois village situated along the banks of the Mohawk River in upstate New York. Her mother was a Christian and wanted her to be baptized, but her father was chief of a tribe who opposed the French Jesuit priests. "Little Sunshine" was a ray of joy to family and friends, but joy and love in the family didn't last long. When she was four years old, smallpox swept through the village. Her father, mother, and baby brother died, leaving Sunshine pock-marked and almost blind. Her uncle adopted her and she was renamed Tekakwitha ("she who pushes with her hands") due to her having to feel her way around as a blind person.

As her childhood passed, her eyesight improved. She became very skilled in Indian embroidery, beading, and wood carving. She worked hard, but in her free time she liked to walk in the woods or stroll along the river, where she could be alone and think about God. As her new family was not Christian, she was not to pray or talk with the missionaries who worked among the Indians. When she was eighteen, she announced that she wanted to become a Christian. Her family was furious.

She attended lessons at the mission and on Easter Sunday, 1676, she was baptized with the name Kateri (Katherine). After this she was treated cruelly by her family, but she never showed her misery. Eventually, two kind Christian Indians helped her escape across the St. Lawrence River to a Christian community in Canada, where she received her First Holy Communion on Christmas Day, 1677. There she carried water, cooked, sewed, and attended every Mass. She spent all her free time in the love and service of the Lord.

On a trip to Montreal to sell Native American handicrafts, Kateri met a religious order of nuns and realized her calling. On March 25, The Feast of the Annunciation, Kateri privately pronounced her vows. From then on, she devoted her life completely to God.

Her private penances and hard work left her often ill. She suffered greatly during the winter of 1680 and on April 17, 1680, at the age of 24, Kateri died. Almost immediately her face turned beautiful and shining. All the pockmarks from her disease disappeared. A smile appeared on her lips. Everyone was astonished. The wonderful transformation remained until burial the next day on Holy Thursday.

The Lily of the Mohawk was beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II. Her feast day is celebrated on July 14.

Kateri Tekakwitha is the first Native American to be declared a Saint. She is the patroness of the environment and ecology, as is St. Francis of Assisi. On October 21, 2012, Kateri Tekakwitha was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI.  The miracle attributed to Kateri's canonization is the story of Jake Finkbonner. Jake was so close to death after flesh-eating bacteria infected him through a cut on his lip that his parents had last rites performed and were discussing donating the 5-year-old's tiny organs. His cure in 2006 from the infection was deemed medically inexplicable by the Vatican, and became the "miracle" needed to propel a 17th century Native American, Kateri Tekakwitha, on to sainthood. Jake is fully convinced, as is the Catholic Church, that the prayers his family and community offered to God through Kateri's intercession, including the placement of a Kateri relic on Jake's leg, were responsible for his survival. Jake, now 13 and an avid basketball player and cross-country runner, was present at the canonization, along with hundreds of members of his own Lummi tribe from northwest Washington state and indigenous communities across the U.S. and Canada.  Many of Saint Kateri parishioners were also present.

Novena Prayer to Saint Kateri

Kateri, favored child and Lily of the Mohawks, I come to seek your intercession in my present need: (mention it).



I admire the virtues which adorned your soul: love of God and neighbor, humility, obedience, patience, purity and the spirit of sacrifice. Help me to imitate your example in my state of life. Through the goodness and mercy of God, Who has blessed you with so many graces which led you to the true faith and to a high degree of holiness, pray to God for me and help me.



Obtain for me a very fervent devotion to the Holy Eucharist so that I may love Holy Mass as you did and receive Holy Communion as often as I can. Teach me also to be devoted to my crucified Savior as you were, that I may cheerfully bear my daily crosses for love of Him Who suffered so much for love of me. Most of all I beg you to pray for me that I may avoid sin, lead a holy life and save my soul. 



AMEN 



In Thanksgiving to God for the graces bestowed upon Kateri:


One Our Father, Hail Mary


Three Glory Be's


Kateri, Lily of the Mohawks, pray for me. 



From Fr. Lovasik's book: KATERI OF THE MOHAWKS

Litany of Kateri Tekakwitha

Lord, have mercy on us.


Christ, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us.


Christ, hear us.


Christ, graciously hear us.


God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.


God the Son, Redeemer of the World have mercy on us.


God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.


Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.



Kateri, lily of purity, pray for us.


Kateri, consoler of the heart of Jesus, pray for us.


Kateri, bright light for all Indians, pray for us.


Kateri, courage of the afflicted, pray for us.


Kateri, lover of the cross of Jesus, pray for us.


Kateri, flower of fortitude for the persecuted, pray for us.


Kateri, unshakeable in temptations, pray for us.


Kateri, full of patience in suffering, pray for us.


Kateri, keeper of your virginity in persecutions, pray for us.


Kateri, leader of many Indians to the true faith through your love for

Mary, pray for us.



Kateri, who loved Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, pray for us.


Kateri, lover of penance, pray for us.


Kateri, who traveled many miles to learn the faith, pray for us.


Kateri, steadfast in all prayer, pray for us.


Kateri, who loved to pray the rosary for all people, pray for us.


Kateri, example to your people in all virtues, pray for us.


Kateri, humble servant to the sick, pray for us.


Kateri, who by your love of humility, gave joy to the angels, pray for us.


Kateri, your holy death gave strength to all Indians to love Jesus and


Mary, pray for us.



Kateri, whose scarred face in life became beautiful after death,
pray for us.



Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, 0 Lord.


Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, 0 Lord.


Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.



LET US PRAY



0 Jesus, who gave Kateri to the Indians as an example of purity, teach all men to love purity, and to console your immaculate Mother Mary through the lily, Kateri Tekakwitha, and your Holy Cross, Amen.



Kateri Tekakwitha, pray for us.