VATICAN
CITY, 20 DEC 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father yesterday signed decrees
acknowledging miracles attributed to the intervention of seven
blesseds (four women and three men) who will shortly be canonised.
One of the new blesseds is Kateri Tekakwitha, the first native North
American to be raised to the glory of the altars.
Kateri
Tekakwitha was born in 1656 in Ossernenon (present-day Auriesville,
U.S.A.). Her father was a Mohawk chief and her mother a Roman
Catholic Algonquian who had been educated by French missionaries. At
the age of four she lost her family in a smallpox epidemic which also
left her disfigured and with poor eyesight. Adopted by a relative,
the chief of neighbouring clan, she continued to nurture an interest
in Christianity and was baptised at the age of 20.
The
members of her tribe did not understand her new religious affiliation
and she was marginalised, practising physical mortification as a path
of sanctity and praying for the conversion of her relatives. Having
suffered persecutions which put her life at risk, she was forced to
flee to a native American Christian community in Kahnawake, Quebec
where she made a vow of chastity and lived a life dedicated to
prayer, penance, and care for the sick and elderly. She died in 1680
at the age of 24. Her last words were: "Jesus, I love you".
According to tradition, Kateri's scars disappeared after her death to
reveal a woman of great beauty, and numerous sick people who
participated in her funeral were miraculously healed.
The
process of canonisation began in 1884. She was declared venerable by
Pius XII in 1943 and beatified by John Paul II in 1980. As the first
native North American to be beatified she occupies a special place in
the devotion of her people.Her feast day falls on 14 July.
OP/
VIS 20111220 (320)
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