Skip to content
EntityQ609· pop 40· linked from 1,646 articles

Kateri Tekakwitha

Sign in to save

Also known as Catherine Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks, Catherine Lily of the Mohawks

17th‑century Mohawk Catholic saint, first Indigenous saint of North America (1656–1680)

Music · MusicBrainz

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Key facts

Born
1656, Ossernenon , New Netherland ( New York , United States)
Baptized
18 April 1676
Died
17 April 1680 (aged 24), Kahnawake (near Montreal ), Canada, New France
Venerated in
Catholic Church
Beatified
22 June 1980, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II
Canonized
21 October 2012, Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI
Feast
17 April , 14 July (United States)
Attributes
Lily ; Turtle ; Rosary
Patronage
environment ; ecology ; people in exile ; Native Americans ; orphans ; people ridiculed for their piety
Controversy
Pressure to marry against will, shunned for her Catholic beliefs

via Wikipedia infobox

~30 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Kateri Tekakwitha ( pronounced [ˈɡaderi deɡaˈɡwita] in Mohawk), given the name Tekakwitha (Tekaouïta, baptized as Catherine ("Kateri" in Mohawk), known as Lily of the Mohawks (1656 – April 17, 1680) and Protectress of Canada, also as Geneviève of New France/ Geneviève of Canada, was a Mohawk/Algonquin young woman when she converted to Catholicism. Committing to live as a virgin, she became known for her devotion to Jesus Christ, diligent work ethic, and dedicated prayers for her fellow Native people. She was canonized in 2012, the first Native American saint.

Born in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, in present-day New York, she and her family contracted smallpox in an epidemic; she was the only one of the family to survive, but had scarring on her face. She was influenced by French Jesuit missionaries and converted to Catholicism at age 19.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Kateri Tekakwitha” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.