As a young girl, a Mohawk known as "She Who Bumps Into Things" probably wouldn't believe she would one day be hailed as a saint. However, Kateri Tekakwitha, born in 1656 Auriesville, N.Y. to a Mohawk Chief and a Catholic Algonquin mother, has been put in just such a position.
Two hundred and sixty three years after her death, Tekakwitha was declared venerable by Pope Pius XII on Jan. 3, 1943. Beatification by Pope John Paul II followed on June 22, 1980.
Many groups of Native American Catholics across the continent have made it part of their life's mission to convince the church to declare Tekakwitha a saint, including the Akwesasne Kateri Prayer Circle.
The circle brought their message to the Akwesasne chronic care facility recently to share with its residents and members of the First Nation.
Circle member Terry Steele donned the garb of Tekakwitha to recite a dramatic monologue by Sarah Hassenplug recounting her life and struggles with faith, which she spent much of her time teaching to children.
"Our people have always been spiritual. We're only now just getting back to our spiritual ways," said prayer circle president Bernice Lazore.
"(Tekakwitha) was an apostle among her people, even if it meant standing alone in her beliefs."
Tekakwitha took the controversial route of embracing Catholicism after meeting three Jesuits who visited her village.
"They were taught to love one another, even their enemies," Tekakwitha said. "How I longed to learn more of their faith."
The aunts who cared for her tried to trick Tekakwitha into marriage by having her give a man a symbolic bowl of corn soup, a ploy she caught onto and evaded, but not without consequences.
"I always did what they told me to do, but I could not obey," Tekakwitha said. "I felt my father calling me to a different kind of life."
She faced ridicule from villagers and children threw stones at her because of her beliefs.
An attempt on her life was made when a man with tomahawk threatened to cut her head off, but Tekakwitha was able to escape and hide from the man, whom she believed was sent by her uncle.
Tekakwitha hid in the woods, then made her way to "the village of the Christian Indian," where she was baptized, took a vow of perpetual virginity and practiced Catholicism more freely for the remainder of her short life.
She died of sickness at the age of 24.
Prayer circle member Wayne Martin said Kateri Tekakwitha must have a certain numbers of miracles attributed to her before being considered for sainthood.
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