Catholic Heroes… St. Kateri Tekakwitha
By DEB PIROCH The Lily of the Mohawks, as she is known, was born near Auriesville, N.Y., in 1656. As you will know, here the North American Martyrs sowed the seeds of early martyrdom in the New World and St. Isaac Jogues had been martyred merely a decade earlier. Kateri’s mother was a Christian Algonquin. The Algonquins and the Mohawks fought over territory; Kateri’s mother was captured and eventually married the Mohawk chief.Sadly, at the age of four, her family fell victim to the smallpox. Both parents died and while Kateri survived, she was left with facial pockmarks and loss of sight in one eye. Her name, “Tekakwitha,” means a person who bumps into things. When she was about ten,…Continue Reading