Saint Kateri Feast Day Weekend

This year's Saint Kateri Feast Day Weekend is being held July 14-16

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha holds a cross in the oldest known portrait of her painted about 16 years after her death in 1680. It was painted by Jesuit Father Claude Chauchetiere, who personally knew Blessed Kateri. Her Feast Day is July 14, 2023. (CNS photo/courtesy of the Cause of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha) (Courtesy photo of (handout))

The Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site (3636 NY-5, Fonda, NY 12068) is pleased to announce the program of events for the 2023 Saint Kateri Feast Day Weekend. This year’s celebration is being held July 14-16 and honors both Saint Kateri’s Catholic faith and her Mohawk heritage.

On Friday, July 14, Saint Kateri’s feast day, a prayer service will be held at noon, and a Spanish-language Mass will be held at 6 p.m., with both events in Saint Maximilian Kolbe Pavilion. The Spanish-language Mass will be followed by fellowship time in Grassmann Hall. On Saturday, July 15, at 2:30 p.m., Dr. Damian Costello, NAIITS, will give a talk in Grassmann Hall entitled “St. Kateri’s Rosary and Black Elk’s Buffalo Skull,” which discusses how Indigenous Catholics such as St. Kateri Tekakwitha and Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk gave traditional Catholic practices new life. Mass will be held Saturday at 4:30 p.m., and Sunday at 10:30 a.m., in Saint Maximilian Kolbe Pavilion. Music will be led by Bernice Lazore, Director of the Mohawk Akwesasne Choir, and the service will include a four directions smudging of sacred plants and solemn blessing with the relic of Saint Kateri. On Saturday at 7 p.m., a prayer and healing circle will take place in Grassmann Hall, led by Terry Steele, who sits on the Saint Kateri Shrine Council and is a member of the Algonquin nation. Please join us in this celebration of Saint Kateri’s life, faith and lasting inspiration.

Kateri Tekakwitha was a young Mohawk woman who lived in the 17th century. She converted to Christianity and was baptized and lived the bulk of her life at the site of what is now the Saint Kateri Shrine and National Historic Site. She is the first Native American saint in the United States and Canada, and the National Shrine was created to honor Kateri and the Native peoples north and south of the border. For more information about Saint Kateri or the Shrine and Historic Site, please contact [email protected] or visit katerishrine.org.