Kateri Tekakwitha
17th‑century Mohawk Catholic saint, first Indigenous saint of North America (1656–1680)
Feast: 17 April (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Tekakwitha was born in 1656 at Ossernenon, in what is now New York State, to a Mohawk chief and an Algonquin mother. She survived smallpox as a child, but it left her face scarred and her sight weak.
She was baptised on 18 April 1676 by the Jesuit Jacques de Lamberville, taking the name Catherine, Kateri in Mohawk. Facing hostility at home for her faith, she moved in 1677 to the Christian community at Kahnawake near Montreal, where she died on 17 April 1680, aged 23 or 24. She is the first Native American woman of North America to be canonised.
The miracles
Jake Finkbonner — Whatcom County, Washington, USA — 2006
In 2006 a six-year-old boy of Lummi descent cut his lip on a basketball hoop, and the wound became infected with flesh-eating strep A bacteria. At Seattle Children's Hospital he spent months mostly in an induced coma, with daily surgery to remove dead tissue from his face, and his parents asked for the last rites. A priest suggested praying to Blessed Kateri, who had also been scarred in the face. A visiting religious sister, also named Kateri, placed a relic of the saint by his bed and prayed with his mother, and the infection stopped. He recovered and went home, though he needed reconstructive surgery every year until he was 18.
The sources checked do not agree on what, if any, miracle was accepted for her beatification in 1980, so none is shown here. Jake Finkbonner's recovery was the miracle approved for her canonisation.
Why that counted as sanctity
On 3 January 1943 the Church declared that this life showed the Christian virtues to a heroic degree, and gave the title Venerable. Beatification followed on 22 June 1980 by John Paul II. The case of Jake Finkbonner was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 19 December 2011, opening the way to canonisation. Canonisation followed on 21 October 2012 by Benedict XVI.
Connected on this site
- Anna Schäffer Saint“She was beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II, and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Basilica on 21 October 2012, along with six others: Jacques Berthieu, Pedro Calungsod, Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Maria of Mt Carmel Salles y Barangueras, Marianne of Molokaʻi, and Anna Schäffer.” — Wikipedia
- Jacques Berthieu Saint“She was beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II, and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Basilica on 21 October 2012, along with six others: Jacques Berthieu, Pedro Calungsod, Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Maria of Mt Carmel Salles y Barangueras, Marianne of Molokaʻi, and Anna Schäffer.” — Wikipedia
- Pedro Calungsod Saint“She was beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II, and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Basilica on 21 October 2012, along with six others: Jacques Berthieu, Pedro Calungsod, Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Maria of Mt Carmel Salles y Barangueras, Marianne of Molokaʻi, and Anna Schäffer.” — Wikipedia
- Giovanni Battista Piamarta Blessed“She was beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II, and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Basilica on 21 October 2012, along with six others: Jacques Berthieu, Pedro Calungsod, Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Maria of Mt Carmel Salles y Barangueras, Marianne of Molokaʻi, and Anna Schäffer.” — Wikipedia
- NPR, Dec 2011 - Vatican declares boy's recovery a miracle
- OSV News, 2023 - 'Never, never lose faith', Jake Finkbonner
- Wikipedia - Kateri Tekakwitha (life and the steps of her cause)
- Wikidata Q609 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Kateri Tekakwitha (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.