Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site, Fonda

Saint Kateri is the patroness saint of Native Americans, First Nations peoples, ecology, and the care of creation.

The Kanienkehaka pronounce Kateri's name as Gah-deh-LEE (Kateri) Deh-gah-GWEE-tah (Tekakwitha).

Kateri was born in 1656 of an Algonquin mother and a Kanienkehaka ("Mohawk") chief in the village of Ossernenon, near present day Auriesville, NY. She was the only member of her family to survive a smallpox epidemic at age 4. It left her face scarred and her vision impaired. She was then adopted by her Kanienkehaka uncle and aunts. Her village was destroyed after the epidemic.

Later they crossed the Mohawk River and settled at Caughnawaga, at or near the present site of the only archaeologically excavated and preserved 17th-century Kanienkehaka village in existence. Here she lived with her family and was instructed by missionaries in the Catholic faith. Kateri was baptized in in a small chapel on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1676.

Kateri was treated poorly because of her conversion to Christianity and her deepening love of Jesus. Kateri grew deeper in her faith and wished to live a more Christian focused life. She left Caughnawaga and headed north to the Catholic settlement of Kahnawake, the present day Mohawk Nation in Quebec, Canada, on the St. Lawrence River. There Kateri lived the rest of her short life, and enjoyed peace and quiet in service to others and a deeper experience of Jesus and his Gospel to which she dedicated her life.

Kateri died at the age of 24. This is the saint we celebrate in this Shrine dedicated to her and her holy life. Her feast day is celebrated on July 14th (US).

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