St.

Kateri Tekakwitha
Anthony Warda
 Early Life
• Born in the year 1656
• Born to the Mohawk Tribe
• Lived in the Ossernenon Village
• Mother was Algonquin and was kidnapped by the Mohawk and married a Chief
• She got smallpox but was able to make it
• Parents died from the disease
• Stayed with Uncle and Aunt
• Refused to marry and became catholic at the age of 19
 Early Life
• Kateri was a skilled worker

• People wanted to marry her for this but she refused again and
wanted to live a chaste life

• She was baptized by Jesuits secretly.

 Early Catholic Years
• Said she would only marry Jesus Christ
• The Mohawk Tribe didn’t agree with the decision of Kateri, some
said she was doing sorcery
• She felt persecuted and decided to leave the village and go to a
catholic native town outside of Montreal called Sault St. Louis
• Sault St. Louis is now an Indian reserve called Kahnawake
 Life in Catholic Town
• She got baptized and took the name Kateri which translates to
Catherine
• Kateri wanted to start a community but priest refused
• Kateri would taint the food to get the flavor out
• Sometimes Kateri wouldn’t even eat
• Kateri gave her whole life to God and prayed for hours daily.
• Kateri was so devote to Christianity that she would sleep on
thorns like on Jesus’ head on the cross.
 Death

• Kateri Tekakwitha died at the age of twenty four.

• She died in the native village where she had been staying.
• She died due to an illness during holy week.
• Her feast day is July 14.
• She is the patron saint of the environment and ecology
 Events During Life
• 1661- first bible is printed in America and is published in
Algonquian language.

• 1679- King Charles II of England disbands parliament

 Becoming a Saint
• St. Kateri Tekakwitha was beatified by Pope John Paul II
• She wasn’t canonized a saint until Pope Benedict XVI on 10/21/2012
• St. Kateri is the first Native American to be canonized in the catholic church
• She is a model to follow due to her Gaining in faith after loss and hardship in
her life.
• The reason she was able to overcome hardship is because she devoted her
life to Christianity