Kateri Tekakwitha

Life events

1. Born — 1656

   Born around 1656 in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon in present-day northeastern New York, daughter of Kenneronkwa, a Mohawk chief, and Kahenta, an Algonquin woman previously baptized Catholic by French missionaries in Trois-Rivières.

2. Other — 1660

   Around age four, Tekakwitha's parents and brother died in a smallpox epidemic; she survived but sustained facial scarring and permanently impaired eyesight, and was adopted by her father's sister and her husband, a chief of the Turtle Clan.

3. Educated — 1674

   In the spring of 1674, at age 18, Tekakwitha met Jesuit priest Jacques de Lamberville visiting her village, told him of her desire to become a Christian, and began studying the catechism with him.

4. Baptized — 1676

   Lamberville baptized Tekakwitha at age 19 on Easter Sunday, April 18, 1676, giving her the name Catherine after St. Catherine of Siena; Kateri is the Mohawk form of the name.

5. Pilgrimage — 1677

   After harassment, stoning, and accusations of sorcery from community members in Caughnawaga, Tekakwitha traveled approximately 200 miles to the Jesuit mission of St. Francis Xavier at Sault Saint-Louis (Kahnawake), south of Montreal, joining other Native converts there.

6. Other — 1679

   On the Feast of the Annunciation in 1679, Tekakwitha made a formal personal consecration to Jesus, declaring him her only spouse; the Church regards this decision as completing her conversion, and Jesuits described her in early biographies as the 'first Iroquois virgin.'

7. Died — 1680

   Kateri Tekakwitha died at approximately 15:00 on Holy Wednesday, April 17, 1680, at Kahnawake, aged 23 or 24, in the arms of her friend Marie-Thérèse Tegaianguenta; Jesuit Claude Chauchetière recorded her final words as 'Jesus, Mary, I love you.'

8. Other — 2012

   Pope Benedict XVI canonized Tekakwitha on October 21, 2012, at Saint Peter's Basilica, making her the first Native American woman of North America to be canonized; the formal cause had been opened on May 19, 1939, she was declared venerable by Pope Pius XII on January 3, 1943, and beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 22, 1980.

Relationships

Documented claims

• The Mohawk name Tekakwitha translates as 'She who bumps into things,' reflecting the impaired eyesight that resulted from surviving a childhood smallpox epidemic that killed her parents and brother. (likely)
• Canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 21, 2012, Tekakwitha is the first Native American woman of North America to be canonized by the Catholic Church; her beatification was performed by Pope John Paul II on June 22, 1980. (certain)
• The first biography of Tekakwitha was written by Jesuit Claude Chauchetière in 1695, followed by Pierre Cholenec in 1696; Chauchetière stressed her charity and industry, while Cholenec emphasized her virginity to counter colonial stereotypes characterizing Native women as promiscuous. (likely)
• The second Vatican-certified miracle, approved December 19, 2011, concerned the 2006 survival of Jake Finkbonner, a boy of Lummi descent in Washington state, from a severe flesh-eating bacterial infection after his family and extended network prayed for Tekakwitha's intercession. (likely)
• In 2022, the Episcopal Church of the United States formally approved a feast for Tekakwitha on April 17, extending her liturgical commemoration beyond Roman Catholicism to the Anglican tradition. (certain)