Késsinnimek - Roots - RacinesMon Petit Coin by Norm Léveillée
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
Last year, I tried to give the reader a view of Tekakwitha from the Native American perspective by using ideas and words from two Jesuit missionaries who were contemporaries of Kateri. I also included opinions and quotes from several scholars on Native Americans, including Native American writers. However, this year I will attempt to write from my heart, how Tekakwitha came into my life and has influenced it since the discovery of "my cousin".
Several years ago, in researching my ancestry, I discovered an Algonquin woman, Mite8ameg8k8e, who had been baptized as Marie and worshiped in the Catholic faith. After her Algonquin husband Assababich died, she eventually found love again in the person of Pierre Couc, a French soldier and colonist in New France in the 17th century. They married and raised seven children. I have written a tribute to my eighth great-mother. It can be found at www.leveillee.net/ancestry/mariem.htm. Mite8ameg8k8e was a member of the Sachem Pachirini Algonquin tribe whose village was near the fort at Trois-Rivières in New France. It is here that she lived with Assababich and her two children Catherine and Pierre. Another member of this Pachirini clan was Wahwahsekona or Fleur-de-la-Prairie (Prairie-Flower). It is here in Trois-Rivières that Pierre and Marie built a home and lived for several years before eventually moving to St-François-du-Lac, further south. The genealogy of Pierre and Marie is located in my ancestry site at www.leveillee.net/ancestry/d294.htm. This short background of my Algonquin ancestry will serve as an introduction to my story this month about Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.
In September 1999, I discovered a holy card with a picture of a Native American. The person on the card was Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. This event became the catalyst of an intense research on my part to learn all that I was able about this Native American, who had been named "blessed" in the Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II. It was also the beginning of an intense devotion to her that I would carry out for the rest of my life. Permit me to share with you the facts, suppositions and opinions about this young Native American Saint.
Around 1653, the Mohawks of the Iroquois nation from what is now upper New York state, invaded the St. Lawrence River valley to pillage the small Algonquin villages. They reached Pachirini's village where they killed many Algonquin warriors, Assababich being one of them, abducted children, Mite8ameg8k8e's two children and several of the Algonquin women, one of whom was Wahwahsekona or Fleur-de-la-Prairie (Prairie-Flower). The abducted natives were brought back to Ossernenon, the village of the Mohawks which is present-day Auriesville, New York.
Fleur-de-la-Prairie caught the eye of the Chief who took her as his wife. There were two chldren born of this union: a girl first, then a boy. Ten years earlier, three Jesuit missionaries were martyred in this village: Saints Isaac Jocques, Jean Lalande and René Goupile. The Mohawks had conducting trading with the Dutch at Fort Orange, now Albany, New York. Because of their dealings with the white man, the natives contracted smallpox which devastated most of the people in the village, among whom were Wahwahsekona or Fleur-de-la-Prairie (Prairie-Flower), her husband and her son. Her daughter, born in 1656, was spared death but the disease affected her eyesight and left pochmarks on her face. The village of Ossernenon was burned down to stop the spread of this white man's disease and the survivors moved across the Mohawk River. The new village was called Caughnawaga, today's Fonda, New York. Wahwahsekona's daughter was adopted by her uncle, the chief's brother and his wife. She was named "Tekakwitha", which in Mohawk means "she who moves things in front of her". Her eyesight had been impaired by smallpox; hence the name. The sunlight affected her eyes so that she needed to wear a blanket over her head to shield them from the sun.
Tekakwitha never forgot her mother's words about her christianity, about Jesus and Mary. She longed to learn more, but was forbidden to speak about this and to become friendly with the Jesuit missionaries who frequently visited her village. Her uncle was adamant about this. Like the other native young girls, she participated the upkeep of the longhouse, the gathering of firewood, the planting and harvesting of provisions, cooking and making clothing for her uncle's family. However, she never and the festivities of the village. She never fully participated in the activities as they other young girls did to attract the young braves. She never focused attention on herself, partly due to her physical deformity but also because of an inner force. Through the words of her future spiritual directors, this force was the Holy Spirit working within her, even at an early age. God had chosen Tekakwitha to be one of His Own. To a believer in the Christian faith, there is no question of this phenomenon.
Whenever the Jesuit missionaries visited Caughnawaga, as they did in 1667, the chief always extended hospitality to them in his longhouse. It was to Tekakwitha that fell the duty of serving to their material needs. She so wished that she could speak with them about what her Christian mother had taught her during those first four years of her life. However, her fidelity to her uncle and aunts forbade her to do this. Very quietly and silently, she ministered to her uncle's guests. I often wonder if she ever talked to the other Christians in the village! There was a woman named Anastasie in that village who had been her mother's dearest friend. There must have been some discussion about her mother's religious background. However, we do not have any writings by a contemporary during her early life in the villages of Ossernenon and Caughnawaga. The events of her early life come from suppositions made by her spiritual advisors from 1674 and thereafter. We do not know if Tekakwitha spoke to her confessors later about her early life.
It was not until by accident around 1674 that Tekakwitha was able to talk with one of missionaries. She had injured her foot and was not able to participate in the gathering of provisions in the woods with the rest of the village. She was sewing in the longhouse when, perchance, Father Jacques de Lamberville happened to pass by the longhouse and heard a noise from within. He entered to find Tekakwitha therein. The Holy Spirit inspired her to speak her heart to this Jesuit priest. She told him about her mother's words during her first years, about her intense desire to learn more about his Christian God, about Jesus and Mary, but that she was fearful of her uncle's wrath against Christianity. At this moment in her life, at the age of seventeen, Tekakwitha finally received the courage to embark upon a life totally dedicated to her Creator, to "Jesos" and "Wari" - Jesus and Mary.
Therefore, on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1676, Tekakwitha was baptized and thus became a member of the Catholic Church, at St. Peter's Mission near the village of Caughnawaga. She was given the name of Kateri - Gahdehlee - Iroquois for Catherine, named after the great Saint Catherine. Her life because one of mental persecution by those in her village who believed that the God of the Black Robes had caused all the diseases that now ravaged their village. She was derided for not wanting to work on Sunday - the day of worship for the Christians. She was denied food on that day: no work, no food. Her aunts attempted to force her to follow the traditions of a young Mohawk girl, by attracting a young brave into marriage in order to support the family of her uncle in their later years. She was called in mockery "the Christian", "the Algonquin". However, our "little saint" persevered in her duty to her Creator, to her Jesus and to His Mother Mary. It became evident that Tekakwitha's life in Caughnawaga was one of continuous persecution and ridicule. Her family continued their opposition to her new religion. Kateri practiced her religion without hesitation in the face of almost unbearable opposition and scorn.
Her mentor and adopted older sister Anastasie had left, several years earlier, to go to the Christian village in New France. Word was sent to Tekakwitha that she was welcome there. With the help of two Christian Indians, she managed to escape her uncle's village and his pursuit of her to walk and paddle a canoe two hundred miles to the Catholic Mission at LaPrairie in New France. She brought with her a letter to the Jesuits priests from Fathers Frémin and de Lamberville: "We are sending you a very special gift, a young woman filled with the Holy Spirit".
There, Father Claude Chauchetière became her spiritual advisor. She was welcome by Anastasie and many other Native Americans who had come to this village to be free to practice their Christian religion. Kateri's devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist and to Mary was an inspiration to all in Caughnawaga, or as it was called Kahanwaké in the Iroquian language. Kateri lived a very saintly life, devoting much of her time to prayer and penance - some of it with severe penance. She participated in all the activities of her mission and her village. It was obvious to her spiritual advisors, the Jesuit Fathers Pierre Cholenec and Claude Chauchetière, that Kateri Tekakwitha had been chosen by her Creator and inspired by the Holy Spirit to lead this saintly life, to be an examplary model for all those who came into contact with her. She was touched by God.
Kateri attended both masses every day. She practiced a severe form of physical penance, until her spiritual advisor discovered this and forbad to do this. She worked along with the other native women. When she was not working, she was seen kneeling in the chapel. Union with her Jesus and Mary was utmost for this young Mohawk-Algonquin maiden. She and another young native woman asked their confessors if they could start a religious order of sisters. They were advised against this. Kateri devoted her entire life to her Creator, the Great Spirit by dedicating her virginity to Him.
Perhaps because of her exposure to smallpox as a child or her intense physical penance, Kateri's health declined rapidly in her twenty-third year. Eventually, she could no longer follow the other women into the fields and woods to gather food and firewood. She spent long hours lying on her mat in the longhouse. Her friends would carry her into the chapel to receive Holy Communion. During Holy Week of 1680, she became so ill that Father Cholenec administered the Last Rites and brought the Holy Viaticum to her in her longhouse. On Holy Wednesday, April 17, 1680, Kateri Tekakwitha finally received her wish, to be united with her Jesus and His Mother Mary. Father Cholenec was with her. About fifteen minutes after she took her last breath, the pockmarks completely disappeared and her face was pure white. As the priest experienced this miracle, let a yell heard throughout the village.
Later, as Kateri lay on her bed, two Frenchmen came into the longhouse and admired this peacful young woman. They were surprised that she was dead. They decided to build a wooden coffin for this beautiful maiden. This was contrary to native american custom in that village who buried their dead in the earth. The fact that Kateri was buried in a coffin is the reason that her remains were moved from the first resting place in Ste-Catherine of La Prairie to the present marble tomb found in the Church of St. Francis-Xavier in Kahnawaké, across the St. Lawrence River from Montréal.
There is a shrine in present day town of Ste-Catherine de Laprairie at the place where Kateri was first buried.
I wrote a "Litany to My Cousin" more in the form of a tribute to Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, whom I consider as a member of Késsinnimek, my roots, mes racines. This can be found at
As a promise for a favor received from Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, I have created an extensive website at
Also I promised that I will devote my time and effort for the rest of my life to spread knowledge and devotion to
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
Refer to Rita Drouin's article on the Blessing of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha's statue at
Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines
Copyright © 2003 & 2004 Norm Léveillée
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Created 1 Feb 2003