Késsinnimek - Roots - RacinesMon Petit Coin by Norm Léveillée
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
Witnesses to Her Sanctity, Apparitions and Cures
I am continuing my story about Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, again citing passages from Father Lecompte's An Iroquois Virgin - Catherine Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawk and the St. Lawrence, 1656-1680, Translated by Sister Francis, published 1932.
The Withnesses1
"On the death of a servant of God the first impression is his reputation for holiness with the people. "She is a saint," they vied with one another in repeating. The Iroquois at the Sault, after Catherine had died, said to one another: "The saint is dead."...
Father Cholenec, witness of the glory that surrounded Catherine's name, wrote in 1715 to his Provincial in France:
All the French who live in these colonies as well as the Indians have a singular veneration for her. They come from far off to pray at her tomb, and several through her mediation have been cured of their illnesses, and have received from heaving wonderful favors.
... (Father de Charlevoix, in Canada from 1705 to 1709) gives an illustration of this cult in these words:
Every year on the anniversay of the death of 'the good Catherine', for this is the title by which, through deference to the Holy See, they honor this holy girl in Canada, several parishes in the vicinity go to the church at Sault Saint-Louis, there to sing a solemn Mass in honor of the Most Holy Trinity.
In 1688, Monseigneur de Saint-Vallier, second Bishop of Québec, furnishes this testimony, valuable on account of its brevity:
At the Sault there lived Catherine Tegascouita, the first Christian virgim whom the Iroquois race has given to the Church of Jesus Christ. God works many miracles at the grave of this wonderful girl.
... The following testimony is from M. de la Colombière (brother of the venerable Father de la Colombière, S.J.), like him a very holy man, Canon of the Cathedral at Québec, and vicar-general of the diocese. This is his attestation:
Having been sick the past year at Québec, from January to June, of a slow fever in which all remedies had been useless, and with a flux which even ipecacuanha had been unable to cure, they decided that is was fitting that I should make a vow, in case it should please God to cure me of these two diseases, to go up to Saint Francis Xavier's Mission, there to pray at Catherine Tekahkouita's grave. From that very day the fever ceased, and the flux having decreased very much, I set out a few days after, to fulfil my vow. Hardly had I gone a third part of the my way, than I found myself perfectly cured ...
Done at Villemarie, September 14th, 1696
J. de la Colombière, Canon of the Cathedral at Quebec.
Another testimony is that of Captain Du Luth, Commandant of Fort Frontenac, ...
I, the undersigned, certify to whom it may concern that, being a sufferer from the gout for twenty-three years and with such intense agony that I had hardly any rest for the space of three months, I appealed to Catherine Tegahkouita, the Iroquois virgin who died at Sault Saint-Louis in the odor of sanctity, and I promised her to visit her tomb if God would restore my health through her intercession. I have been so completely cured at the end of a novena which I made in her honor that for fifteen months I hve felt no return of the gout.
Done at Fort Frontenac, 15 August 1696
J. Du Luth
The historian de Bacqueville de la Potherie, in the first volume of his "History of North America" ... Under the title: "Death of the good Catherine Tegakouita" ...
The following year, 1680, on the 17th of April, the good Catherine Tegakouita, Iroquois, died in the odor of sanctity of Sault Saint-Louis, where she had lived for some years ... Since her death, they have had recourse to her in every part of Canada, and God has performed many miraculouis cures through her intercession.
The Apparitions2
The first apparition of Catherine Tekakwitha was made to Father Chauchetière ... The sixth day after Catherine's death, Easter Monday, at about 4 o'clock in the morning, the Father being at prayer, she appeared to him all surrounded with glory, her bearing full of majesty, her face radiant and with eyes raised to Heaven as if in ecstasy. On her right was a church in ruins, on her left an Indian being burned alive at the stake. This wonderful vision laster two hours ...
The good Anastasia, whom Catherine called her mother, well deserved special notice on the part of her daughter, and this was granted her two days after Catherine's appearance to Father Chauchetière. With the coming of night, everyone, after the prayers in common, was asleep, with the exception of this fervent Christian woman, who continued praying for some time. Then feeling overcome by sleep, she lay down upon her mat. She had scarcely shut her eyes when she heard a gentle voice calling:
Mother, arise and look at me.
On saying these words she vanished, leaving her "mother" filled with joy, and her mind so full of what she had seen, that after many years she yet spoke of it as of a recent occurrence.
... Catherine could not forget her great friend Mary Teresa. One day when the latter was alone in her cabin Catherine suddently appeared to her and came and sat close beside her on her mat. In a few very gently words, she repoved her for certain things she had done, gave her some good advice, and disappeared ...
But we must return to Father Chauchetière, for he was favored with two other apparitions ... The first in regard to his writings ... The second relates to the portrait of the deceased Catherine, and other devotional images that he was asked to paint of her ... He composed at the same time a brief account of her life and virtues, as well as the miracles that were already multiplying at her tomb and elsewhere. The following will tell us about these miracles.
Father Chauchetière, writing some years after the death of Catherine Tekakwitha, expresses himself as follows:
Lastly, an unbelievable and unparalleled matter demands a testimony greater than that of man. We have such a one which, beginning at her death, has continued for fifteen years ... Everything that toucher her, such as a crucifix which was placed in her hands when she was buried, has worked cures; her blanket, the earth of her grave, the plate from which she ate, have restored health in a sudden manner.
Twenty years later, Father Cholenec wrote in 1715:
God did not delay honoring the memory of this virtuous maiden by innumerable miraculous cures performed after her death, which still occur daily by ther interecession. This is known, not only from the Indians but also from the French of Québec and Montréal.
Further on, he, too, affirms that everything connected with her effected cures, even the mere promise of a pilgrimmage to her grave, or the invocation of her name ...
(Father Chauchetière) was called in January 1681, nine months after Catherine's death, to see a Frenchman, Claude Caron, inhabitant of the Prairie de la Magdeleine, who was dying. ... He took care to pass by the grave of Catherine, imploring Our Lord to enlighten him on this occasion ... The patient, whom he found in the last extremity from a violent congestion of the lungs, could scarecely make his confession. Having administered the last sacrements to him, the priest proposed that he dedicate himself to the good Catherine, and go topray at her grave if she cured him. The dying man willingly promised this. The missionary then placed around his neck the crucifix which Catherine had held in her hands when dying, and left, promising to return the next day. A moment later the sick man, through the carelessness of those caring for him, fell heavily to the floor. They thought he was going to pass away; they placed him back in bed, so that he could at least die more easily. The unexpected, however, took place. He fell into a peaceful sleep, during which he had the impression that a large stone was lifted from his chest. when he awaked he was completely cured.
The following day a doctor from Montréal, who had come to see him before the arrival of Father Chauchetière ... came back and, entering the house, saw him near his fireside, well and cheerful, without a trace of illness. He stated upon leaving that, to his knowledge, no one had even been so sick of that disease without dying. It was not until three or four days later that Father Chauchetière was able to return to his patient. Judge of his surprise and joy at the sight of the prodigy; Catherine's power in heaven was indeed affirmed. It was the first cure performed at the Forks, near Laprairie.
The second (cure) took place in the very village of Laprairie. Father Cholenec, who relates it, makes a point of warning us that the circumstances are such that the whole
would seem a fable or idle tale if the thing had not taken place before the eyes of all the inhabitants of the Prairie de la Magdeleine."
Here, Sister Francis omits the second cure. I will translate this section from the original French version.
In the same month of January 1681, a short time after the first cure, the wife of François Roaner, sixty years of age, fell gravely ill and soon found herself at death's door. Father Chauchetière, sent for once more, ministered to her and put in her hands the crucifix of Catherine which was used in the other cure, and urged her to seek (Catherine's) help. The dying woman placed the crucifix around her neck . Right after placing it there, she found that she was completely cured, in the presence of those who were taking care of her.
Having been cured through this crucifix, she felt that she no longer needed it. Father Chauchetière, thereupon, gave her a little sac containing dust from Catherine's tomb. It is this dust from the tomb which would give so many cures in the future. The womean put this sac around her neck instead of the crucifix.
Some time later, feeling so much better, she removed the little bag from around her neck. Immediately, she fell sick once again, with such violence that she was going to die if the miraculous powder had not been put back around her neck. The cure happened as quickly as the first time. The Roaner woman learned from experience and continued to carry the powder around her neck, perhaps more for fear of a repeat than for devotion to her benefactor.
About a year later, her husband was seized with a violent kidney attack along with with rhumatism. In a charitable move, she removed the precious sachet and put it around his neck. He was cured immediately, but her illness returned and she began to cry out that her husband was trying to kill her. It was necessary to take the little sac of powder from the man and once more put it around his wife's neck. For the third time, the sick woman was cured instantly, without affecting the health of the husband, who since that time remained completely cured like his wife.
I will continue to cite passages from Sister Francis' translation.
"A savage of the Sault was in his last agony and had received the sacraments; his death was momentarily expected. Father Chauchetièe made him take a little earth from the grave; the man was immediately out of danger. They thereupon begged the same priest to interest himself in behalf of a young woman of the Mission, crippled in all her limbs every spring since she had been eight years old. The missionary immediately wen there, placed Catherine's crucifix about her neck, and made her begin a novena in her honor. It was the first noveny made in Catherine's honor, according to Father Cholenec. it had great effect; on the ninth day the crippled woman arose completely cured and from that time had no recurrence of her illness.
... Father Cholenec ends the biography of his saintly spiritual daughter by speaking of a grace obtained by her, and which can pass
as the greatest of her marvels. This grace is the preservation of the Mission of the Sault, which we may attribute to her prayers and to her precious bones which we possess.
These excerpts conclude this article on Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. I will continue my story of Kateri in the next issue - November 2004. Thanks for your attention.
Norm Léveillée
