After taking time to reflect on the spread of the Gospel through the example of witnesses in Asia, Australia, and Central America, Pope Francis used his August 30, 2023, audience to look at a saint from North America — St. Kateri Tekakwitha.
Kateri was the first Native American woman to be canonized.
She was born in 1656 in the village of Ossernenon, just a few miles west of present-day Auriesville, N.Y.
Kateri was the daughter of an unbaptized Mohawk chief and an Algonquin Christian mother. It was her mother who taught her to pray and sing hymns to God.
“Do not forget that the faith is always transmitted in ‘dialect’ by mothers, by grandmothers,” the pope said.
For many of us, our first introduction to the Lord occurred in a family setting.
According to Pope Francis, this speaks to the foundations of evangelization.
It often begins with simple things and small gestures — parents helping their children learn to talk to God in prayer and teaching children about God’s merciful and never-ending love.
A hard life
Kateri bore many hardships throughout her life.
At the young age of four, she contracted smallpox, which permanently scarred her skin and face and left her disfigured.
During the outbreak, her entire family died, and she was then raised by her uncle.
The scars from smallpox became a great source of humiliation in her youth.
Although she was encouraged to marry, Kateri preferred to entirely devote her life to Christ.
Her adoptive parents gave her additional work as punishment.
Kateri refused to give in, instead remaining quiet, patient, and diligent in her work.
There were also false rumors that she practiced witchcraft.
Even beyond Kateri’s physical difficulties, the loss of her family, and the judgment of others, she also faced persecutions, and even death threats, following her Baptism at age 19.
She was forced to take refuge among Mohawks in the Jesuit mission, located near the city of Montreal.
Nevertheless, those sufferings drew her to a great love of Christ, a devotion to the Cross, and a close identification with Christ in His redemptive love for humanity.
Kateri said, “Look at this Cross. Oh, how beautiful it is! It has been my whole happiness during my life, and I advise you also to make it yours.”
Though she could not enter Consecrated Life, she chose to make a vow of perpetual virginity at the age of 23 and seal her complete dedication to the Lord.
St. Kateri said, “The state of helpless poverty that may befall me if I do not marry does not frighten me. All I need is a little food and a few pieces of clothing. With the work of my hands, I shall always earn what is necessary, and what is left over, I’ll give to my relatives and to the poor.”
Pope Francis explained that this choice to remain unmarried reveals another type of apostolic zeal — that of full surrender to the Lord.
He said, “Of course, not everyone is called to make the same vow as Kateri, but every Christian is called to give him or herself daily with an undivided heart to the vocation and mission entrusted to them by God, serving Him and one’s neighbor in a spirit of charity.”
Following her witness
Kateri’s witness serves as a beautiful example of the power of prayer.
Kateri was very devout. She attended daily Mass, participated in regular Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, prayed the Rosary, and lived a life of peace.
Moreover, her spiritual practices impressed those at the mission.
Pope Francis remarked, “They recognized in Kateri a holiness that was appealing because it stemmed from her deep love for God.”
Pope Francis reminded us that holiness has the ability to attract others, saying “God calls us through attraction; He calls us with this desire to be close to us, and she felt this grace of divine attraction.”
Many graces flowed from Kateri’s prayer, and it fueled her service to others.
She was known as a skilled worker and used her gifts to help others.
She taught the children of the mission to pray, cared for the elderly and sick, and offered an example and inspiration to others as she worked to fulfill her responsibilities and serve God in love and humility.
St. Kateri Tekakwitha was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 21, 2012, and is the patroness of ecology and the environment, people in exile, and Indigenous peoples.
From Kateri’s life, Pope Francis reflected on the virtue of patience.
He said, “Witnessing to the Gospel is not only about what is pleasing; we must also know how to bear our daily crosses with patience, trust, and hope — patience in the face of difficulties, of crosses.”
The Holy Father implored that we may “like St. Kateri Tekakwitha, draw strength from the Lord and learn to do ordinary things in extraordinary ways, growing daily in faith, charity, and zealous witness for Christ”.