Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin
[In the Diocese of the United States]
Memorial
July 14th
oil painting on canvas 41 x 37"
by Father Chauchetière 1682-1693
(1656-1680) The daughter of a Mohawk warrior, Kateri was born near what is now Auriesville, New York, and was orphaned by an epidemic of smallpox which left her with impaired eyesight and a disfigured face. When she was baptized at the age of twenty she incurred hostility from her tribe; but she remained faithful and moved to the new Christian colony of Indians in Canada where she dedicated the rest of her life to prayer, penitential practices, and the care of the sick and the aged. She was devoted to the Eucharist and to Jesus Crucified, and was known as the "Lily of the Mohawks".
Source: Daily Roman Missal, Edited by Rev. James Socías, Midwest Theological Forum, Chicago, Illinois ©2003
Collect:
O God, who desired the Virgin Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
to flower among Native Americans
in a life of innocence,
grant, through her intercession,
that when all are gathered into your Church
from every nation, tribe and tongue,
they may magnify you
in a single canticle of praise.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. +Amen.Readings from the Commons of Virgins
Feast Day: | July 14 |
Born: | 1656, Ossernenon, Iroquois Confederacy (Modern Auriesville, New York) |
Died: | 17 April 1680 at Caughnawaga, Canada |
Beatified: | 22 June 1980 by Pope John Paul II |
Major Shrine: | St Francis Xavier Church, Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada |
Patron of: | ecology |