April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.

Catholics are fond of Fonda shrine dedicated to Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha


By KATE BLAIN- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

(Editor's note: The Evangelist continues its year-long series of monthly articles that take a look inside large institutions in the Albany Diocese, places you might have driven by and asked: "What goes on in there?" This week: The National Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha in Fonda.)

The buzzing of bees is loud in the air that once heard the prayers of the "Lily of the Mohawks."

On a weekday, the National Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha is quiet, with only an occasional carload of visitors pulling in from rural Route 5 in Fonda. There are no signs of the "old faithful" shrine devotees: the woman who calls weekly to cite miracles she has heard attributed to Kateri, or the Native American who fixed the shrine's bell tower, saving its directors $9,000.

On the grounds

Pilgrims to the shrine first take in the circa-1784 Dutch farmhouse and barn that now house, respectively, the chapel/Native American exhibit and a friary for the Conventual Franciscans who serve at the shrine. The latter is painted a cheerful sky-blue; the chapel is a muted tan with a simple wooden cross on top.

Those buildings hide a large, low-ceilinged gift shop, a small retreat center and the open St. Maximilian Kolbe pavilion, where outdoor Masses are held. Staggered across the green hill beyond are Stations of the Cross on wooden poles.

"It's very rustic," explains Brother Kenneth Lucas, OFM Conv., associate director of the shrine. "I like that."

Place for pilgrims

Native Americans come here, and senior citizens faithful to the cause for sainthood of Blessed Kateri, and the terminally ill who seek her intercession for a cure -- in all, 10,000 pilgrims every year.

This is the site where, in the 1670s, Tekakwitha lived, was converted to Christianity and baptized, and suffered persecution at the hands of her own people before fleeing to Canada.

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, born across the Mohawk River to a Mohawk chief and an Algonquin mother, was the only member of her family to survive a smallpox epidemic when she was four years old. The disease left her with a pockmarked face and poor eyesight.

After a war party destroyed their village, the Mohawks built a new home called Caughnawaga on the site of the shrine, and Kateri lived there for 10 years. When she died in Canada at 25, already revered for her holiness, the scars on her face are said to have miraculously disappeared.

Rediscovery

Caughnawaga was excavated in the 1950s through the efforts of Rev. Thomas Grassmann, a Conventual Franciscan friar. (Bishop Edmund Gibbons of Albany had originally bought the property and then offered it to the Franciscans.)

BY traveling up a steep dirt road through the woods behind the shrine, today's visitors eventually come upon an open field where stakes outline where Mohawk longhouses once stood.

Recently, the Kateri shrine celebrated a proud moment: Indian remains previously on display in its museum exhibit were reinterred at the village site. A Mohawk chief officiated at the private Native American ceremony, which was followed by a traditional meal called "the feast of the dead," celebrating the entry of the dead into the spirit world. A bare cedar post now marks the site.

Down a narrow path from the village, an ancient spring still seeps up through the ground. A whimsical statue of Blessed Kateri stands in a small grotto there -- humorous, because sparrows have built a nest on the future saint's head, giving her the appearance of sporting a Russian fur hat.

Major sites

BY far, the focal points of the shrine are St. Peter's Chapel and the Native American exhibit. Two Masses per weekend and another daily (starting in June) are celebrated in the chapel, whose rough-hewn, blackened beams hold in the summer heat.

Statues of Blessed Kateri and St. Maximilian Kolbe share space with Native American artifacts: animal hides, "dreamcatchers," and clan symbols like the turtle, beaver and wolf.

Local Native Americans often come on feast days to help with Masses, said Rev. Kevin Kenny, OFM Conv., director of the shrine. Traveling from as far away as Syracuse to participate in the liturgies, they sing Mohawk-language songs and burn a combination of tobacco, sage, cedar and sweetgrass as incense.

Exhibition

Downstairs from the chapel is the museum exhibit, its dim light and cool air in stark contrast to the heat above. The exhibit's entrance is marked with a drawing of a wampum belt representing five confederated Indian nations: the Onondaga, Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida and Seneca. According to Father Kenny, legend has it that the idea for the balance of power displayed in the belt was stolen by America's founding fathers in creating the country's government.

Beyond the drawing begin a series of lighted displays that follow a twisting path through both the museum and the history of Native American cultures. Beginning with arrowheads, stone tools and clay pots, the displays gradually give way to ironwork and fur hides -- the latter, what the directors call "big money" items at the trading posts of the past. One display of snowshoes points out that these were invented by Native Americans.

Many of the items are not from the Mohawks or other eastern nations, but those of the west. Native Americans who made their homes in the woods often left few artifacts, Father Kenny explains. But a series of exhibits highlights the work of local Native Americans, and photos detail the excavation of Caughnawaga, where some of the work was done by seminarians from St. Anthony-on-Hudson in Rensselaer.

Relics

A few displays are darkened, some with curtains covering their contents: replicas of masks used in Native American medicine rites. Mohawks who visited the museum found the displays sacrilegious and offensive, the directors say, so the displays remain unlit in deference to their wishes.

Pipes, beads, basketry, clothing from plains Indians, and even an alcove of Costa Rican and Mayan artifacts round out the tour. To visitors, Brother Kenneth points out colonial land deeds in a glass case and photos of Mrs. Bob Hope, the shrine's most famous visitor to date.

One exhibit is incongruously filled with information on the Franciscans. Brother Kenneth notes that while this is just until a "Kateri wampum belt" is placed in the case, the temporary commercial can't hurt: He has given out information on the friars to a couple of pilgrims to the shrine.

Gift shop

Bright sunlight is blinding after a tour through the museum, but visitors rarely leave without a stop at the gift shop. Packed with religious articles and Native American gifts, the shop provides a good portion of the shrine's income.

The dark-brown building's "theme is Kateri," says Brother Kenneth. "We try to stick with Native American things. Mary was very important to Kateri, so we have a lot of rosaries."

Among the items for sale are statues of Tekakwitha, always pictured with the cross that was so important to her; olive-wood crosses and other articles from the Holy Land; and t-shirts with Native American themes emblazoned with the shrine's name.

A "chaplet of Kateri," a one-decade Rosary, contains white beads to symbolize crystal-clear water, red for the blood of humankind and brown for the earth.

On one table sit dozens of jars of Trappist-made jam. Brother Kenneth shrugs off this Trappist incursion into Franciscan territory with "they make good jellies."

Place of prayer

Outside, a car sits in the parking lot: One of Blessed Kateri's devotees has arrived. Many are praying for the holy woman's canonization, says Brother Kenneth, noting that "I hope it comes soon."

Miracles attributed to the saint, Father Kenny says, include the case of a boy who injured his eye, losing all its vitreous humor, but allegedly regained his sight through prayers to Tekakwitha; and a soldier in Vietnam who claimed during a visit to the shrine that through a vision, Blessed Kateri had led him out of the jungle to safety.

While they wait for the Native American's cause for canonization to be furthered, Brother Kenneth and Father Kenny lead tour groups and individuals, celebrate extra liturgies on request and host the occasional Confirmation retreat for local parishes.

"We include a lot of Indian rituals with the kids, which they're always interested in," Father Kenny says. "We acknowledge the presence of God in all the universe."

(The National Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha is open daily May 1-Nov. 1. The retreat house is open year-round. Call 853-3646.)

(05-21-98) [[In-content Ad]]


Comments:

You must login to comment.