Pdf biography st kateri tekakwitha

         Kateri Tekakwitha is the first Native American to be declared a saint. Tekakwitha was born around 1656 in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, which is located in upper New York state.

Those familiar with Isaac Jogues, René Goupil and Jean de Lalande (all featured on American Saints and Causes) will recognize Ossernenon as the village in which these saints suffered their martyrdom.

         Kateri was given the name Tekakwitha at birth, which means “She who bumps into things” in the Mohawk language, likely a reference to her eyesight that was left impaired by smallpox.

Pdf biography st kateri tekakwitha

Kateri was the daughter of a Mohawk chief and an Algonquin woman who had been assimilated into the tribe after her capture. Her mother was a baptized catholic and had been educated by the French Jesuit missionaries. Kateri also had a younger brother.

         Tragedy struck early in Kateri’s life.

When she was four years old, smallpox devastated her tribe. Both of her parents