Author brings saint to younger readers

A Kateri in Minnesota has inspired an author to write a children's book about a Kateri from the Albany Diocese.

"Blessed Kateri and the Cross in the Forest" was recently released by Our Sunday Visitor Publishing as one of a series of books on saints for children. Author Anne Neuberger of St. Paul, Minn., tells the story of the beatified Native American woman Kateri Tekakwitha in simple language with vivid illustrations.

In the Albany Diocese, Blessed Kateri is well-known for having lived in the Auriesville area. She is memorialized at both the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville and the nearby National Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha in Fonda.

Inspiration

"There's a little girl named Kateri in our parish," Ms. Neuberger told The Evangelist. The child's Native American parents planned to teach their daughter about the origin of her name, she said, but the girl's mother died of breast cancer when Kateri was only two.

"Every week, I see her father bringing this now five-year-old Kateri to church, and I think about how her mom wanted her to know the story," the author said. "I felt a real pull toward offering this child this book."

Ms. Neuberger has also written books for the same series about St. Francis of Assisi and St. Therese of Lisieux, but writing about Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha piqued her interest because the Native American is not as well-known as the other two.

Aims of book

To pen the book, the author used a book about Kateri for older children as well as information gathered from the internet.

She wanted children to feel "a great kinship" with the future saint, who grew up in colonial America and had her own struggles as a child -- including losing her family and much of her eyesight to smallpox.

"I was interested in how Kateri's mother became a part of the Mohawk Nation, was Christian and had to keep that quiet," explained Ms. Neuberger, referring to some Native American tribes' reluctance to accept Christianity. After her mother died, Kateri was raised by an aunt but had to keep her belief in Christ a secret.

With that hurdle to overcome, the author realized that the odds had been stacked against Kateri Tekakwitha even becoming a Christian -- let alone the deeply religious Christian she became.

"The fact that she ever reached that level of spirituality is amazing," Ms. Neuberger remarked.

Writing for kids

In her book, the author characterizes Blessed Kateri as joyful and close to nature, enjoying walks in the woods and chores at home, but always mindful of God's presence in her life.

"Blessed Kateri and the Cross in the Forest" is Ms. Neuberger's tenth book. Her others include a treasury of stories on St. Nicholas and a co-authored book on Catholic customs and rituals (available from Our Sunday Visitor Publishing).

"When I write for children, I feel I have a responsibility or even a calling to give children a richer spiritual life, and make it easier for parents and teachers to give children a sense of the spiritual," said Ms. Neuberger.

In a secular society, she said, it's important to show children "people touched by God" so they understand that God loves them.

Adjusting for children

Some facts about Blessed Kateri are less emphasized in the new book -- for instance, her mother's essential slavery when she was taken from her own tribe to the Mohawks. Kids shouldn't fixate on those parts of the story, said Ms. Neuberger.

"I try to soft-pedal [disturbing references]. When one of my kids was seven, all he focused on with Martin Luther King was that he was killed -- not everything he did before that," she explained.

Her goal in writing the book, she said, was to give a role model of a different kind of saint: an American, non-white woman who simply lived a saintly life.

(To order "Blessed Kateri and the Cross in the Forest" for $7.95, call 1-800-348-2440. Contact the National Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha in Fonda at 853-3646. Contact the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville at 853-3033.)

(6/05/03) [[In-content Ad]]