Késsinnimek - Roots - RacinesJuly 15 - Feast of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
by Norm Léveillée
by Norm Léveillée
In December 1999, I discovered Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. My sister Rita and her husband Richard, my wife Annette and I were visiting the LaSalette Shrine in Attleboro, MA, when I saw, in the gift shop, a religious card with an Indian maiden and a prayer. I immediately seized the card and realized for the first time in my life that there was a Native American who was Blessed and a candidate for Sainthood in the Catholic Church. She immediately became my patroness, at that moment. Why was this astonishing for me?
In 1985, while researching and verifying my sister's genealogical data on our ancestors, I discovered my 8th great-grandmother Marie Mite8ameg8k8e Couc was an Algonquin Native American who married Pierre Couc, a French solider and interpreter on 16 Apr 1657 in Trois-Rivières, Québec. My father's family is descended from their daughter Marie Angélique Couc who married François Delpée. Our family takes pride in being descendants of a Native America.
On that day in December, I searched the book section of the gift shop and found two books on Blessed Kateri Tekakwtitha. Subsequently, I discovered dozens of books written about her from various booksellers. I purchased all of them - a couple of first editions, out of print. In subsequent and intensive research, I discovered that Kateri's mother was Algonquin, from the same clan and family as Mite8ameg8k8e, thereby allowing me to claim Tekakwitha as a "cousin". You can, now, just imagine how excited I was to make the discovery of a Native American Saint and the subsequent discovery that we were related!
In the summer of 2000, my family made a pilgrimage to Kateri's three shrines. This can be found on my website at:
As a result of my pilgrimmage and research about Tekakwitha, I wrote a story about my cousin which was translated into French by two of our Québecois cousins, and in Spanish by an EWG High School colleague. These can be found on on my website dedicated to Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha:
Upon reading all the available books on Kateri, I discovered Juliette Lavergne's "La Vie gracieuse de Catherine Tekakwitha", published in 1935. It is a story written about "Fleur-de-la-Prairie - Prairie Flower", the Catholic Algnoquin mother of Tekakwitha. I then realized from whom Tekakwitha received her first lessons in Christianity. I was so enthralled by this little book, that I translated it from the French, into English and made them - French and English versions - available on my site at:
I have returned to her shrines both in New York and in Québec on several occasions, but most frequently to the shrines in Fonda and Auriesville, NY. My story about my cousin was the result of an encounter with Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha on July 15, 2000 in front of her statue at the Caughnawaga Shrine in Fonda, NY. There I made a promise to my cousin:
In 2005, I visited for the first time, the Parish of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, in my own state of Rhode Island, in Exeter the next town from mine. The pastor there, Fr. Gerard Sabourin, is a former classmate of mine when I attended a seminary in the 1950's. I have been back there several times over the past couple of years. As a result of attendance at an anniversary mass of that parish in February 2007, I created a website for this church"
How have I kept my promise to my cousin? I have created many necklaces as described in the article "My Promise" and have given them to whomever asks me about the necklace. As recently as this May 2007, I sent one of these to a young lady about to make her First Communion. I wrote about this in the editorial of the current May issue of our magazine Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines.
I continue to spread knowledge of and devotion to my cousin whenever anyone asks me about the necklace that I wear continously around my neck. And I will do this for the rest of my life.
The reason that I decided to write about Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha for the July 2007 issue is that her Feast Day will be celebrated on July 15 at all her shrines and especially for me at the Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Church in Exeter, Rhode Island. I will atten that celebration and will document it in the form of photos and an article to be posted in our magazine and on the church's website. T
herefore, tune in for the August edition of Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines. And thank you for allowing me to write about my cousin once more!
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