Emerald House

Feast Day: July 14
Patron Saint of the Environment and Ecology, People in Exile, and Native Americans

St. Kateri Tekakwitha is the first Native American to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. She was born in 1656 to a Christian Algonquin mother and a Mohawk father in what is now New York.  Her name is the Mohawk form of Catherine, which she took from St. Catherine of Siena.

As a four-year-old, she contracted smallpox, which scarred her skin. The scars were a source of humiliation in her youth; she was commonly seen wearing a blanket to hide her face. Her vision suffered greatly. Even more tragically, her family died during the outbreak. Kateri was subsequently raised by her uncle, the chief of a Mohawk clan.

At age twenty, Kateri Tekakwitha was baptized and later took a vow of chastity, pledging to marry only Jesus. Her decision was very unpopular with her adoptive parents and their neighbors. They punished her by giving her more work to do, but she did not give in.

To avoid persecution, she eventually moved to a Christian community near Montreal. 

While there, Kateri was known as a skilled worker, who was diligent and patient, and for her steadfast devotion. However, she was also very sickly. She became ill and passed away at age twenty-four, on April 17, 1680.  When she died, the scars on her face disappeared. Likewise, during the research for her canonization, in 2006, a young boy who had contracted a flesh-eating bacteria was cured after his parents prayed for the intercession of Kateri. 

Kateri reminds us that despite ailments, persecution, loss, and adversity, we can still go on to do great things and to live as a witness to the Gospel.