Kateri Tekakwitha was born in Ossernon (Auriesville, New York) in 1656, the daughter of a Christian Algonquin mother and non-Christian Mohawk chief. Having lost her parents in a smallpox epidemic at the age of fourteen, she was raised among the Mohawks in the home of an uncle. There she first encountered Christian missionaries. In 1675 she was instructed in the faith by the missionary Jacques de Lamberville, who baptized her on Easter Sunday, 5 April 1676, at which time she took the name Kateri (Katherine). Because of her conversion and baptism, her exemplary life, and her desire to remain a virgin, Kateri suffered harassment and persecution. She fled to a Christian village on the Saint Lawrence River. At Sault Saint Louis, on Christmas Day, 1677, she received her first Communion. Under the guidance of Father Pierre Cholonec and an older Iroquois woman, Anastasia Tegonhatsihongo, Kateri led a life of great virtue and charity, making a private vow of virginity on 25 March 1679. Kateri died at the age of 24 on 17 April 1680 in Caughnawaga, Canada. Devotion to Kateri, known as the Lily of the Mohawks, spread througt the United States and Canada. On 22 June 1980 Kateri Tekakawitha was declared blessed by Pope John Paul II.

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