April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
BOOK REVIEW
Story of a special saint
"Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits" by Allan Greer (Oxford University Press, 2005)
There, Blessed Kateri lived a life of seclusion and prayer until her death in 1680 at the age of 24. Almost immediately upon her death, Blessed Kateri was venerated for holiness; she was widely invoked particularly in times of sickness.
The two Jesuits who knew her well, Revs. Claude Chauchetiere and Pierre Cholenec, convinced of Kateri's intimacy with God, wrote biographies for their Jesuit confreres in France. They stressed her deep faith, devotion to prayer and austere penances.
Father Chauchetiere also painted a portrait of Blessed Kateri, the only firsthand image which has endured. Although the artist paints her wearing cloth garments and a long cloak, later artists have romanticized her, often depicting her wearing deerskin and feathers.
Allan Greer, a professor of History at the University of Toronto, is keenly interested in Blessed Kateri's cultural context and history. He both rescues Kateri from her hagiographers and reverences their sincerity and firsthand experiences, adding the discipline and the research skills of a historian.
Blessed Kateri's story is fascinating. Her mother was captured by the Mohawk tribe and, as was their custom, was made a member of that tribe. She died of smallpox when Kateri was four years old; the child contracted the disease as well and was nearly blinded.
Greer describes Blessed Kateri's upbringing in a society which gave significant status to women. He writes of her small circle of women friends, who met daily for prayer in common. Although the youngest in the group, Blessed Kateri became the accepted leader. The members of the group were zealous in their care for the sick; it is probable that Kateri contracted her final illness from this ministry.
Greer recounts some of the stories about Blessed Kateri: Her smallpox scars were said to have disappeared after her death; any sick persons who attended her funeral were healed at once; she appeared to two different individuals after her death. Although it is likely that these stories are more devotional than true, he notes, it is clear that, from the very beginning, Kateri was seen as having special graces.
As I read Greer's work, I was reminded of the rich, mystical gifts which God seems to offer in every age and in every faith tradition. Like her namesake, St. Catherine of Siena - "Kateri" is a later effort to reproduce the Mohawk pronunciation - this later Catherine came to know God directly, intimately and joyfully. Once touched by God, she never stopped celebrating this intimacy.
We are indebted to the Franciscan friars who maintain the Kateri Shrine at Fonda with such care and to the Jesuits, from whom Kateri learned of Christianity. In Kateri, we have a wonderful example of a strong young woman who answered "yes" to God's invitation to holiness and who lived out that invitation in prayer and services to others.
(Sister Kitty is associate dean and director of St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry in Albany.)[[In-content Ad]]
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