Ordinary Time: July 14th
Memorial of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin (USA)
Other Commemorations: St. Francis Solano, priest (RM)
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Gospel Verse, Mt 11:28:
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 near the town of Auriesville, New York, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior. She was baptized by Jesuit missionary Fr. Jacques de Lambertville on Easter of 1676 at the age of twenty. She devoted her life to prayer, penitential practices, and the care of the sick and aged in Caughnawaga near Montreal (where her relics are now enshrined). She incurred the hostility of her tribe because of her faith. She was devoted to the Eucharist, and to Jesus Crucified, and was called the "Lily of the Mohawks." She died in 1680 and was beatified June 22, 1980—the first native American to be declared "Blessed." She was canonized on October 21, 2012. —Excerpted from Magnificat, July 2003
The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Francis Solano (1549-1610), Franciscan missionary in Lima, Peru. He was born in Andalusia, Spain, in 1549, and became a Franciscan in 1569. Francis labored for two decades in Spain and sailed to Peru in 1589. He worked until his death in Lima and elsewhere in South America. He was renowned for his preaching, miracles and virtues. Pope Benedict XIII placed him on the canon of the saints. The General Roman Calendar celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. Camillus de Lellis, priest on July 14, but the particular calendar for the United States transfers Camilius to July 18 so as to not conflict with St. Kateri.St. Kateri Tekakwitha
[Pronounce: Gah-deh-lee Deh-gah-quee-tah] The blood of martyrs is the seed of saints. Nine years after the Jesuits Isaac Jogues and John de Brebeuf were tortured to death by Huron and Iroquois Native American nations, a baby girl was born near the place of their martyrdom, Auriesville, New York. She was to be the first person born in North America to be beatified. Her mother was a Christian Algonquin, taken captive by the Iroquois and given as wife to the chief of the Mohawk clan, the boldest and fiercest of the Five Nations. When she was four, Kateri lost her parents and little brother in a smallpox epidemic that left her disfigured and half blind. She was adopted by an uncle, who succeeded her father as chief. He hated the coming of the Blackrobes (missionaries), but could do nothing to them because a peace treaty with the French required their presence in villages with Christian captives. She was moved by the words of three Blackrobes who lodged with her uncle, but fear of him kept her from seeking instruction. She refused to marry a Mohawk man and at nineteen finally got the courage to take the step of converting. She was baptized with the name Kateri (Catherine) on Easter Sunday.
- A wonderful place to make a pilgrimage is the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs. The Shrine is situated in the heartland of New York State, in the Diocese of Albany. The Shrine is the site of America's first and only canonized Martyrs: St. Rene Goupil (1642), Jesuit brother; St. Isaac Jogues (1646), Jesuit priest; and St. John Lalande (1646), lay missioner. Here also is the birthplace of the Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the Lily of the Mohawks, born at Ossernenon in 1656, just ten years after these Martyrdoms.
- Another shrine to visit is the St. Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site in Fonda, New York.
- Read more about St. Kateri in this article, The Lily and the Cross.
- Although both of these websites have expired, the archived editions of www.kateritekakwitha.org and Lily of the Mohawk, is worth a visit.
- For even more information read Kateri Tekakwitha: Mohawk Maiden by Evelyn Brown and/or Kateri Tekakwitha, Mystic of the Wilderness by Margaret Bunson.
St. Francis SolanoThe diocese of Cordova, in Spain, was the birthplace of this Saint, who won many thousands of souls to God. From his earliest years he was characterized by a modest behavior, prudent silence, and edifying meekness.
- Read The Wonder Worker of the New World.
- Read St. Francis Solano: Wonder Worker of the New World and Apostle of Argentina and Peru.