Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

by Norm Léveillée

On July 14, the Catholic Church of the United States will celebrate the Feast Day of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. In Canada, her Feast Day is celebrated on April 17, the date on which she died in 1680. I don't know why the Church in the US selected July 14 since that date has no relevance in Kateri's life. In any case, I hope that those of you who know and pray to my cousin will ask Our Creator, the Great Spirit that He influence the Vatican to, at last, name her a Saint - Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. It is long in the coming.

I recently read Catherine Tegakouïtha - Iroquois Maiden, written by Félix Martin, S. J. originally in French Une Vierge Iroquoise ou Vie de Catherine Tegakouïa which was unpblished but translated by Henry Van Rensselaier, S.J. and published in serial form in The Pilgrim of Our Lady of Martyres, 1898-1899. It was post-translated by William Lonc, S.J. and published jointly with Les Archives Jésuites, St. Jérôme, Qué. ⁽¹⁾

Father Lonc wrote a Preview of this biography in the May issue of our magazine.

This biography was written by Fr. Félix Martin, a French Jesuit who arrived in the Montreal area around 1842 and had strong contacts with the Iroquois community at Caughnawaga. For example, he was involved in designing renovations for the church there and participated in the re-installation of the large out-door cross on the lawn behind the church.

I have read every book and article written about my cousin Blessed Kateri. I have also written several articles and a short story about her.
You can read these within the Author Index. Unfortunately, these articles are no longer available on the website, but are published on a CD for a modest price. Both my story A Litany to My Cousin, in English, French and Spanish as well as the original French and my translation of Juliette Laverne's La Vie gracieuse de Catherine Tekakwitha are on my website dedicated to Kateri.

Permit me to make a few comments about the Fr. Félix Martin's biography. He has used the term "non-Christians" frequently instead of the word "pagan" when referring to the Native Americans of the 17th century. He has characterized the Iroquois:

The most redoutable enemy encountered by the missionary were the Iroquois, a proud and wild-like people, renowned for bravery and still more, for love of domination and a thirst for blood... The Iroquois regarded themselves as superior to all other people, and gave themselves the pretentious name of Ongwehonwe that is to say, men above all others.

He further describes how they lived, how they constructed their "longhouses" (Ed. my word) and their location in the New World. Throughout the reading of both the French and English texts, I can't help getting the impression from the author that the Natives were not normal people, that they were uncivilized. That was most likely the prevailing attitude during the 18th century. Fr. Martin does give us this impression however. He uses her baptismal name in French "Catherine" and never once her native name "Kateri", nor "Tekakwitha", except in the title, which he spelled "Tegakouïta". We now know that the Natives possessed a very civilized way of life and their own spirituality was akin to Christianity. The Jesuits made use of these qualities to show the natives how the Great Spirit can be better served through Christianity.

In Chapter 2 "Birth of Catherine" - Chapitre 2 "Naissance de Catherine", Fr. Martin wrote the following:

Catherine Tegakwitha's father was a non-Christian of the Mohawi Iroquoi tribe. Her mother, an Algonquin by birth, had the happiness of being a Christian. he had been brought up from infancy in the French Canadian Colony and had been instructed in the Catholic religion. She was admitted to Baptism in the town of Trois-Rivières (Ed. in Chief Pachiniri's tribe). Her virtue had already made her remarkable by the time she fell into the hands of the Iroquois. Happy prisoner! Her captivity hid the designs of Providence converning her whom posterity may, perhaps, one day invoke as the patroness of New France. ⁽²⁾

Continuing Fr. Martin's brief description of the Christian spirituality of Catherin's mother, I contend, as I wrote in my January 2005 article:

There has been much written about Kateri Tekakwitha. She is called the "Lily of the Mohawks" because she belonged to the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk tribe of the Iroquois nation. There is an extensive bibliography of works on this saintly Indian maiden. Most authors emphasize her Mohawk affiliation. They may, at times, mention in passing her Algonquin heritage. However, there is very little known and written about her Algonquin mother who was baptized a Catholic. Most prayers to her do not mention her Christian Algonquin influence. I contend that Tekakwitha's spirituality is due primarily to, if not almost solely on, the influence of her mother's Catholic faith imparted to her daughter during the first four years of Tekakwitha's life. What three or four year old child is not aware of what her mother is doing, in this case kneeling and praying to the Great Spirit as taught to her by the Black Robes? I am sure that she quizzed her mother. If not, how then could she have not been influenced by the Mohawk custom for a young maiden, which was to marry and carry out her duties as an Indian wife and mother? It is true, however, that Tekakwitha's mystical and saintly life was planted in her by the Great Spirit and subsequently enriched by the teachings of the Black Robes. She did live in the Christian Mohawk village of Kahnawaké in Québec where she received her first communion, practiced her Catholic religion and finally died there.
I am asking the reader to study the following text and decide for oneself if my contention has value.
Some authors have named her mother Kahenta or Kahontáke (Meadow). I will use Fleur-de-la-Prairie (Prairie Flower) from Juliette Laverne's La Vie gracieuse de Catherine Tekakwitha. Tekakwitha's contemporary authors, Jesuit Fathers Claude Chauchetière and Pierre Cholenec have made short references to Tekakwitha's Algonquin mother. ⁽³⁾

The impression received from reading the portion of Chapter 2 relating to Kateri or Catherine as she is referred to by Fr. Martin is that this Jesuit priest believed that Kateri's mother had an influence on her dauther during the first five years of her short life with her parents.

Fr. Martin's biography does not reveal anything new or different about Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha's life and spirituality since he based his work on the works of Kateri's contemporaries Jesuit Fathers Cholenec and Chauchetière. However, it is worthwhile reading for those of us who are dedicated to this saintly young woman - the first North American native to be consecrated as "Blessed" in the Catholic Church. Fr. Martin's work gives a different look at her life.

The book can be ordered from:
Huronia Musieum, Midland, ON, hmchin@csolve.net
Sainte Marie Book store, Midland, ON, friends@csolve.net
Saint Mary's University Bookstore, Halifax, NS, bookstore@smu.ca

References
(1) Title page of Catherine Tegakouïtha - Iroquois Maiden, post-translated by William Lonc, S.J. 2006, p. ii.
(2) Ibid., p. 17, English Translation; p. 15 in the original French version.
(3) Fleur-de-la-Prairie - Prairie Flower. The Algonquin Mother of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines, January 2005 issue, by Norm Léveillée. Available on CD or on the website at www.leveillee.net/kateri/fleurdelaprairie.htm, both in English and French.

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