Sainthood for Kateri Tekakwitha

THE MONTREAL GAZETTE DECEMBER 19, 2011

  
KAHNAWAKE - A Mohawk woman whose remains are entombed inside a Kahnawake church has moved one step closer to becoming a saint.

On Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI cleared the way for the canonization of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, known as Lily of the Mohawks, and six others.

Kateri died in 1680 at age 24.

“The bells have been ringing here all morning to let the village know,” said Rev. Ron Boyer, deacon at the St. Francis Xavier Church in Kahnawake.

The decision was made on Tuesday after the pope signed a decree approving a miracle attributed to Kateri. She is credited with interceding to save Jake Finkbonner, a child in Washington State who developed necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease, after cutting his lip while playing basketball.

With Jake gravely ill in hospital, his parish priest asked his family and other church members to ask Kateri for intercession. Soon after, the bacteria stopped spreading and Jake recovered, his family says.

“It was a first-class miracle,” Boyer said on Tuesday.

Boyer said he will attend the canonization at the Vatican, probably next year.

In 1980, Kateri was beatified by Pope John Paul II, the final stage before sainthood. To be declared a saint, a miracle must be attributed to the candidate after he or she has been beatified.

The Vatican has been receiving requests to canonize Kateri for more than 100 years. The first recorded instance came in the 1880s, when Jesuit missionaries delivered a petition on behalf of Mohawks.

Kateri’s mother was an Algonquin married to a Mohawk chief, according to historian Darren Bonaparte, who recently published a book on Kateri’s life.

Her mother, father and younger brother died during the smallpox epidemic of 1661-62. She survived the disease, but it damaged her eyesight and left her face scarred.

She remained weak throughout her life, shunning sunlight, emerging only covered with a shawl or a blanket, said Bonaparte, a Mohawk who lives in Akwesasne.

She was baptized Catholic in 1676 and, after facing pressure from her uncle to give up Catholicism, was spirited away with the help of her brother-in-law and the Jesuits to the mission of St. François Xavier du Sault, in an area along the St. Lawrence River around what is now Kahnawake and Ste.Catherine.

When she died, it was reported that her scarred face became beautiful, and that priests and friends saw her in visions, while miracles were attributed to her intercession.

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

This is all it takes to make someone a saint? Seems like there should be some higher criteria, just sayin

Quoted from A Better Rotterdam

This is all it takes to make someone a saint? Seems like there should be some higher criteria, just sayin

DVR and other simpletons are easily impressed.

Quoted from A Better Rotterdam

This is all it takes to make someone a saint? Seems like there should be some higher criteria, just sayin

It is a lengthly process -- it involves studying the life of the person, his/her writings (if any), interviewing people who knew him or her (if possible) and the attribution of miracles at certain stages.  IT IS A VERY HIGH CRITERIA.


BTW --- just because a person is not canonized by the Roman Catholic Church and/or the Orthodox Church does not mean the person is not a saint.   In one sense, ALL who are baptized into Christ are saints (holy, sanctified) and - the Church has always held that the ultimate decision of who is in Heaven belongs to God along.  Canonization is just the Church's way of saying  "We believe that this person is definitely in Heaven with God and worthy of veneration" (NOT WORSHIP -- only God is worthy of worship).

A spiritual woman who is 'different' from her peers, and practices magic by calling on spirits to intercede in her wishes...

Didn't Christians hang women for those attributes as witches?
Didn't the  Inquisition condemn you to torture and usually death if you were found to have those abilities?

I guess the difference between a 'sorcerer' and a 'saint' depends on which team you play for.  

Ya gotta point there boxy.

And actually..if there is such a think as 'sainthood' I'd be lead to believe that it is GOD who gives them that honor. Not some group of HUMANS making that decision!

Quoted from Box A Rox

A spiritual woman who is 'different' from her peers, and practices magic by calling on spirits to intercede in her wishes...

Didn't Christians hang women for those attributes as witches?
Didn't the  Inquisition condemn you to torture and usually death if you were found to have those abilities?

I guess the difference between a 'sorcerer' and a 'saint' depends on which team you play for.  

Kateri Tekawitha did not practice "magic" -- she showed great bravery and faith by becoming Catholic and sharing her faith with others despite being persecuted for that by others.   In this way, she is a great role-model for those of us Catholics who have to deal with the hostility and persecution from the enemies of Catholicism found on websites like this and else where in the world.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Kateri Tekawitha did not practice "magic" -- she showed great bravery and faith by becoming Catholic and sharing her faith with others despite being persecuted for that by others.   In this way, she is a great role-model for those of us Catholics who have to deal with the hostility and persecution from the enemies of Catholicism found on websites like this and else where in the world.

Kateri didn't practice magic... but "magic" was attributed to her when she somehow is responsible for curing a boy with
an incurable disease... see "Magic" below.

Through out much of history, "Magic", like being able to control weather someone dies from an incurable disease,
would be enough to be declared a witch by many Christian sects, and be burned or hung as a witch.

Magic:
The decision was made on Tuesday after the pope signed a decree approving a miracle (magic) attributed to Kateri. She
is credited with interceding to save Jake Finkbonner, a child in Washington State who developed necrotizing
fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease, after cutting his lip while playing basketball.

With Jake gravely ill in hospital, his parish priest asked his family and other church members to ask Kateri for
intercession. Soon after, the bacteria stopped spreading and Jake recovered, his family says.

Quoted from Box A Rox

Kateri didn't practice magic... but "magic" was attributed to her when she somehow is responsible for curing a boy with
an incurable disease... see "Magic" below.

Through out much of history, "Magic", like being able to control weather someone dies from an incurable disease,
would be enough to be declared a witch by many Christian sects, and be burned or hung as a witch.

Magic: The decision was made on Tuesday after the pope signed a decree approving a miracle (magic) attributed to Kateri. She
is credited with interceding to save Jake Finkbonner, a child in Washington State who developed necrotizing
fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease, after cutting his lip while playing basketball.

With Jake gravely ill in hospital, his parish priest asked his family and other church members to ask Kateri for
intercession. Soon after, the bacteria stopped spreading and Jake recovered, his family says.

Actually - a  MIRACLE occurred - not magic - and it was through the prayers of many people asking Blessed Kateri Tekawitha to pray to Jesus Christ on the boy's behalf.   Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists and Anglicans/Episcopalians believe in the Communion of Saints -- that is that believers (saints) on earth can communicate/pray to the saints above .. and that the combined prayers of All Saints  (here below and those above) can be heard by Jesus Christ and that He can intercede - in this case by healing the boy - in situations here on earth.

I will offer a prayer to Blessed Kateri Tekawitha to heal you of your unbelief.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Actually - a  MIRACLE occurred - not magic - and it was through the prayers of many people asking Blessed Kateri Tekawitha to pray to Jesus Christ on the boy's behalf.   Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists and Anglicans/Episcopalians believe in the Communion of Saints -- that is that believers (saints) on earth can communicate/pray to the saints above .. and that the combined prayers of All Saints  (here below and those above) can be heard by Jesus Christ and that He can intercede - in this case by healing the boy - in situations here on earth.

I will offer a prayer to Blessed Kateri Tekawitha to heal you of your unbelief.

I will hope your belief doesn't adversely affect my life or my freedom... as it has done for millions who were killed,
tortured or imprisoned in the name of your beliefs.

This is a great honor for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany -- having one of its own approved for canonization as a saint.  This diocese was home to the FIRST Roman Catholic saints in North America --  Rene Goupil, Father Issac Jogues and Jean de La Lande -- who were martyred for their faith in 1646 at Auriesville, NY.

Blessed Kateri Tekawitha will be the 4th person who once lived in this diocese to be recognized as a Saint by Holy Mother Church.

Two more persons (Father Patrick Peyton and Mother Angeline Teresa) are in the process of moving towards Beatification (named Blessed) which will -hopefully - lead to their canonization sometime in the future.

May the seeds of faith sown by these Saints, Blesseds and Servants of God during their lifetime be cultivated by our dedication and service to Jesus' Gospel and His Church's Mission and bear a rich harvest of souls who shall join in the Communion of Saints worshiping at the Throne of God forever and ever.

Under this criteria wouldn't all doctors be saints since they save lifes everyday. What about nurses and pharmacists, and cops, all seem to have done alot more than one wacko that kept talkin to an invisible man. And what's with the funny robes and hats? Is god blind or silly or does he  just have a sense of humor. I get so confussed with all this hocus pocus. Anyways good luck to the person that is dead and waiting in heaven for a man in a phony robe to give her a shout out.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

This is a great honor for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany -- having one of its own approved for canonization as a saint.  This diocese was home to the FIRST Roman Catholic saints in North America --  Rene Goupil, Father Issac Jogues and Jean de La Lande -- who were martyred for their faith in 1646 at Auriesville, NY.

Blessed Kateri Tekawitha will be the 4th person who once lived in this diocese to be recognized as a Saint by Holy Mother Church.

Two more persons (Father Patrick Peyton and Mother Angeline Teresa) are in the process of moving towards Beatification (named Blessed) which will -hopefully - lead to their canonization sometime in the future.

May the seeds of faith sown by these Saints, Blesseds and Servants of God during their lifetime be cultivated by our dedication and service to Jesus' Gospel and His Church's Mission and bear a rich harvest of souls who shall join in the Communion of Saints worshiping at the Throne of God forever and ever.

Sounds a lot like when I was back in Catholic school!  

To my previous point... what you call a "miracle" other Christians have called "witchcraft" or "magic", and hung or
burned to death the guilty party.

   If I pray to Kateri asking that  Seabiscuit  comes in first in the forth race at Saratoga... and the half dead, limping,
blind in one eye horse wins...
I guess that is a MIRACLE too!  Or do miracles only count when the right people are doing the praying???

There will always be the intolerant bigotted anti-Catholics -- like the previous two posters.  Responding to them just gives them a false sense of credibility.  It is best to just ignore them and pray for their eventual repentance and conversion.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

  It is best to just ignore them and pray for their eventual repentance and conversion.

As if Catholics have a reason to believe that 'their religion' is somehow better or more authentic than any other!
DVOR's  arrogance knows no bounds.