Ellie
S. Thomas
©
Copyright
2012 by Ellie S. Thomas
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She
was born into a time of turbulence and an area of conflict, this
gentle Mohawk girl. In 1656 the northeast was a wilderness for the most
part, with only pockets of civilization widely scattered along the
lakes and rivers. In between these remote frontier towns lay vast
stretches of untamed forests inhabited by wild beasts and ferocious
people - her people, the rampaging Mohawks. The future did not look
promising for little Kateri Tekawitha.
The Mohawks lived in central New York State along the Mohawk River.
They were but a segment of the mighty Iroquois Confederacy, the scourge
of the huge area from just north of Virginia into Lower Canada, west to
the Huron country of Ohio, and north to the Algonquins homes at
Georgian Bay. The Hurons, Algonquins, and their French allies were
detested enemies, which the Iroquois felt duty bound to destroy. Raid
followed raid followed by massacre. They were never so happy as when
one of their forays netted a hated 'Black Robe', one of the Jesuit
missionaries dedicated to Christianizing the Indians. It was just a
short time ago that three had been put to death in this very area;
Father Isaac Jogues, Rene Goupil, and Lalande. No remorse was felt;
after all, didn't everyone know that they were to blame for the bad
luck in recent battles? For the crop failure? And most of all, for the
deadly epidemics of smallpox that spread like fire?
Still, many Indians had been reached by the healing hands of the
priests; many had been baptized and had come to the faith. One of the
christians was Kateri's Algonquin mother. The woman would have been
most happy if she had been able to persuade her husband, a Mohawk
chief, to listen to the Jesuit, but he would not and before long, they
too were ill with smallpox. Only the four-year old Kateri survived. Now
she must go to live with her uncle, a non-Christian who had little
sympathy for Kateri's professed faith and she must worship in secret.
The girl worked among her clansmen, living a life of austerity and
charity. Privately, she instructed many and taught them to become
Christians, but her uncle was becoming more insistent all the time that
she break her vow of chastity and take a mate. Relations became so
strained that she was forced to leave her tribe, but she continued to
work among them, pock-marked and half-blind though she might be. When
she was twenty-fours old, she became ill and died.
Kateri Tekawitha has had a special place in the hearts of Native
Americans. It was a long time before they would have religious
tolerance...for all too long they were forced to conform due to outside
pressures, both social and economic and it wouldn't be until 1934 when
President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered a halt to all interference with
their religious observances.
Native Americans have traditionally been a deeply spiritual people, but
their beliefs were based on an anthropomorphic foundation focused on
the natural elements. They saw spirits in the wind and rain; animals
and birds also had kindred spirits which must be propitiated before one
took their life, or caused them any injury. The earth was itself the
Great Mother and usually, they did not believe in tilling the soil or
causing any wounding of her surface. The Indians of the southwest
combined their observances with the cycles of sun and rain necessary to
the harvest of their corn, beans, melons, etc. When the Spanish forged
their way through the south, the missionaries traveling with them
brought religious conformance to those Indians, while the Jesuits
brought it to those of the north. It is difficult to say how many of
the conversions were matters of expediency because the Indian was
forced to give up much of what he held dear, the drums, the dancing,
and the honoring with smoke from burning grease wood, etc. It was
almost impossible for one to be a good Catholic and still follow one's
traditional Indian lifestyle. Many because disgruntled, many gave
'lip-service', and others became 'apples'; red on the outside and white
inside. It was the cause of diversions and disharmony within the tribes.
Over three hundred years after the Flower of the Mohawk breathed her
last, her unifying power was still making itself felt. When Pope John
Paul ll visited the United States in the fall of 1987, he met with
16,000 Indians working towards canonization of 'their' saint. Kateri,
who was beatified in 1980, could have a strong impact on the 285,000
Catholic Indians who have a special place in their hearts for her. Her
images and medallions are displayed on reservations over the north, as
well as throughout the south. She has become the great unifier of
Indian catholics and the Rev. Gilbert Hemauer of Great Falls, Mont.,
organized the Tekawitha Conference which has brought many converts and
return of many disaffected back to the church. When they met with the
Pope last fall, the Indians shared signs of reconciliation: the peace
pipe and cleansing ritual of water were performed and Pope John Paul
was given an eagle feather, a symbol sacred to Indians. On the obverse
side, it was held to be permissible for Indians to have services said
in their language, to use their drums, dancing, water signs, and 'holy
smoke'. Now in 2012, St. Peter's Square was filled with the faithful on
Oct. 21st as Pope Benedict canonized this young woman. The Lord's
Prayer was sung in English but 'signed' as Indians traditionally do in
prayer. All in all, a day to remember.
Kateri, as one of the Roman Catholic Church's first Native American
saints could continue doing what was always foremost in her heart,
leading the way for her people, and working for their best interests.
The Lily of the Mohawks joins the pantheon of saints, who continue to
reap the harvest of souls in a troubled era. Now Pope Benedict has
given recognition to Kateri, the Lily of the Mohawks.
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