Feastday: July 14
Patron of the environment and ecology
b. 1656 d. April 17, 1680
Patron of the environment and ecology
b. 1656 d. April 17, 1680
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin, She will be named a Saint in 2012
Kateri
was born near the town of Auriesville, New York, in the year 1656, the
daughter of a Mohawk warrior. She was four years old when her mother
died of smallpox. The disease also attacked Kateri and transfigured her
face. She was adopted by her two aunts and an uncle. Kateri became
converted as a teenager. She was baptized at the age of twenty and
incurred the great hostility of her tribe. Although she had to suffer
greatly for her Faith, she remained firm in it. Kateri went to the new Christian colony of Indians in Canada. Here she lived a life
dedicated to prayer, penitential practices, and care for the sick and
aged. Every morning, even in bitterest winter, she stood before the chapel door until it opened at four and remained there until after the last Mass. She was devoted to the Eucharist and to Jesus
Crucified. She died on April 17, 1680 at the age of twenty-four. She is
known as the "Lily of the Mohawks". Devotion to Kateri is responsible
for establishing Native American ministries in Catholic Churches all over the United States and Canada. Kateri was declared venerable by the Catholic
Church in 1943 and she was Beatified in 1980. Work is currently
underway to have her Canonized by the Church. Hundreds of thousands have
visited shrines to Kateri erected at both St. Francis Xavier and Caughnawaga and at her birth place at Auriesville, New York. Pilgrimages at these sites continue today.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments will be posted after they are reviewed by the admin. Thank you