Kateri: Native American Saint

Description

Kateri, Native American Saint take the reader into the world 17th century Native Americans and Catholic missionaries. Kateri Tekakwitha, “The Lily of the Mohawks,” was a Native American woman born near the Canadian border in present day Auriesville, New York. Kateri’s life was one of faith, penance, and contemplation. Orphaned by a smallpox epidemic in 1660, her early and young adult years were filled with her persistent efforts to live a chaste Christian life, culminating with her baptism on Easter Sunday, 1676. She eventually moved and lived at the Sault Mission in New France (Canada), where her faith deepened. Her life ended at the young age of twenty-four after extreme acts of penance and mortification. A miracle occurred when smallpox scars disappeared from her face fifteen minutes after her death, and several reported apparitions and fulfilled prophecies regarding Kateri were documented in the years thereafter. She will be canonized by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in Rome October 12, 2012- becoming the first Native American to achieve saintly status