October 17, 2012. (Romereports.com) Dubbed the Pocahontas of the Catholic Church, Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 in what is today New York. A
smallpox epidemic killed her parents and brother. She survived, but her face was disfigured by scars and she had vision problems the rest of her life. The Church considers her witness as an example of how to deal with suffering.
Fr. Thomas Rosica
Spokesperson, Canonization Kateri Tekakwitha
“We can go forward and do tremendous thing despite all kinds of infirmity and suffering and persecution and loss. She lost almost every thing she had as young girl”
When at age 20 French Jesuit missionaries baptized her, Kateri was rejected and persecuted by her tribe. She had to flee what is today Canada, and then devoted the rest of her life to evangelization and care of the sick and elderly.
Fr. Thomas Rosica
Spokesperson, Canonization Kateri Tekakwitha
“She was a witness to the Gospel. I often think that she was an instrument of the first evangelization and a beautiful example of the new evangelization.”
Her biography notes that she was a fighter and she lived the penitential life and showed her love for the Eucharist.
Fr. Thomas Rosica
Spokesperson, Canonization Kateri Tekakwitha
”It is over 350 years ago that she lived, and yet she continues to influence and touch so many people because of the simplicity of her life, her single minded devotion, her love of God, her love of purity, and her great courage in proclaiming the Gospel in a very hostile environment."
In 2006, the miracle arrived that prepared the way for her canonization. An American child almost died from a flesh eating bacteria, and was miraculously cured when the child's parents prayed for the intercession of Kateri Tekakwitha. The child is now 12 years old.
Kateri is also the patron saint of the environment and ecology. When she died, at the age of 24, the scars on her face miraculously disappeared.
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