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Kateri Tekakwitha

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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)

OverviewAI-generated

Kateri Tekakwitha was a 17th-century religious sister and Catholic saint. Born in Montgomery County in 1656, she was a member of the Mohawk and Algonquin peoples. She spoke the Mohawk language and is recognized by the Catholic Church as a blessed and a Virgin. Her feast day is observed on April 17.

Tekakwitha died in Kahnawake on April 17, 1680. She is described in Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. Her name in her native language is Kateri Tetakwithas. She held Canadian citizenship and is associated with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Synthesized by Vinony from 21 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

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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

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Gender
female
Citizenship
Canada
Place of birth
Montgomery County
Place of death
Kahnawake
Languages spoken
Mohawk
Official website
www.kateritekakwitha.org
Image
Tekakwitha.jpg
Show 10 more facts
Commons category
Kateri Tekakwitha
feast day
April 17
date of birth
1656-01-01
date of death
1680-04-17
canonization status
blessed
name in native language
Kateri Tetakwithas
subject has role
Virgin
time period
17th century
Sources (4)

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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.