Painted around 1696 by father Claude Chauchetière, the portrait of St. Kateri is the only known one to exist.

Dustin White
Editor

Helping to bring the community together, the Spirit of Life Catholic Church is welcoming area residents to their fifth annual St. Kateri Block Party on Saturday, Sept. 9.

Beginning at 5 p.m., the event is a fun filled evening. Admission is one can of non-perishable food per person, and gets you free food, free music and access to a beer garden.

As the night progresses, the band Dirty Word will take to the stage, who promises to bring the audience to their feet with a “virtual library of hits.”

The event is in celebration of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. Having been canonized in 2012, Kateri became the first Native American to become a saint.



St. Kateri
Tekakwitha, who later took the Christian name of Kateri (derived from Catherine of Siena) was born in 1656, near the town of Auriesville, N.Y. The daughter of a Mohawk warrior, at just the age of four, her mother, and the rest of her immediate family, died of smallpox. Kateri would live the rest of her life with the marks of the disease upon her face, as well as impaired eyesight.

Finding herself as an orphan, she was adopted by her two aunts and an uncle. Jesuit missionaries would go on to report that her relatives were uninterested in her care. However, as was the tradition of the Mohawks, she would have found herself well taken care of by her clan.

Following the death of her family, Kateri withdrew a bit from others. Self-conscious about her smallpox scars, she often covered her face with a blanket to hide the marks.

Even though Kateri was a bit withdrawn, she took part, and became skilled in, the traditional art’s.

However, the times were filled with upheaval and invasions, as Europeans began settling closer. After suffering a major defeat, the Mohawks were forced into a peace treaty which would require them to allow Jesuit missionaries into their villages.

Kateri was just 10 years old at the time, but the Jesuit’s work began having an effect on her.
At the age of thirteen, Kateri found herself pressured into marriage. It wouldn’t be the last attempt to try to force her into marriage.

Four years later, as Kateri turned 17, her two aunts, concerned about her lack of interest in young men as romantic partners, tried to arrange another marriage.

Convincing a young Mohawk man that Kateri was interested in him, her aunts began putting on pressure for a marriage.

Once Kateri found out what her aunts were planning, she fled into a nearby field and hid from her family. For her actions, Kateri’s aunts would go on to ridicule, threaten and apply harsh workloads on the young girl.

It was shortly after that incident that Kateri had the chance to meet with the Jesuit Father Jacques de Lamberville.

Having told Lamberville her story, she made her desire known that she wanted to convert to Christianity.

At 19, on Easter Sunday, that desire was fulfilled, and she became recognized as the “first virgin” among the Mohawks. Her conversion was opposed by some other Mohawks, and accusations of sorcery were levied against her. Because of the opposition, she made the decision to leave her home and join a community of converted Native Americans at Kahnawake, south of Montreal.

Kateri would go on to be known for her pious faith. Believing in the value of penance, she would lie on a mat with thorns while praying.



Through the continued practice of her penance, Kateri’s already poor health began to worsen. Afraid of the length that the severity to which Kateri was going, Father Claude Chauchetiere intervened and scolded her; instructing her that she must use moderation.

However, it would only be shortly after that that Kateri’s health would finally fail her. At the age of 24, on April 17, 1680, Kateri was given her last rites.

Some said that after her death, there was a physical change with Kateri. Her face, which was scared from smallpox, suddenly healed and became as white as a lily.