Tuesday, December 20, 2011
KATERI TEKAKWITHA: FIRST NATIVE NORTH AMERICAN SAINT
VATICAN CITY, 20 DEC 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father yesterday signed decrees acknowledging miracles attributed to the intervention of seven blesseds (four women and three men) who will shortly be canonised. One of the new blesseds is Kateri Tekakwitha, the first native North American to be raised to the glory of the altars.
Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 in Ossernenon (present-day Auriesville, U.S.A.). Her father was a Mohawk chief and her mother a Roman Catholic Algonquian who had been educated by French missionaries. At the age of four she lost her family in a smallpox epidemic which also left her disfigured and with poor eyesight. Adopted by a relative, the chief of neighbouring clan, she continued to nurture an interest in Christianity and was baptised at the age of 20.
The members of her tribe did not understand her new religious affiliation and she was marginalised, practising physical mortification as a path of sanctity and praying for the conversion of her relatives. Having suffered persecutions which put her life at risk, she was forced to flee to a native American Christian community in Kahnawake, Quebec where she made a vow of chastity and lived a life dedicated to prayer, penance, and care for the sick and elderly. She died in 1680 at the age of 24. Her last words were: "Jesus, I love you". According to tradition, Kateri's scars disappeared after her death to reveal a woman of great beauty, and numerous sick people who participated in her funeral were miraculously healed.
The process of canonisation began in 1884. She was declared venerable by Pius XII in 1943 and beatified by John Paul II in 1980. As the first native North American to be beatified she occupies a special place in the devotion of her people. Her feast day falls on 14 July.
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How are we supposed to believe that 'miracles' like this are genuine when the boy spent weeks in the hospital and had dozens of surgeries? He received state of the art medical care -- probably a million dollars worth -- so how can it be certain that a miracle was the cause of his getting better? And if a miracle, why not an instant healing? Certainly a saint could produce an instant and marvelous healing by the power of God - and this would NOT require weeks of hospital care and dozens of surgeries. So called 'miracles' like this cause people to lose confidence in the modern canonization process and may make those outside the Church lose respect for us. The boy himself may one day come to realize it wasn't a miracle and then become disillusioned. The boy - who thinks he 'hugged' God - said God (NOT Bl. Kateri) told him he needed to come back because his family needed him. So what about all the other sick children - don't their parents need them just as much? One can't help but wonder if a driving force is getting the first Native American saint. If she's a real saint (which I think she is), please wait for a real miracle that is not subject to such reasonable doubt. Then we can all rejoice.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading this. Please know I mean no disrespect. I have been 'agonizing' over my feelings about this, but I cannot put aside the facts.
I agree with the above comment from Anonymous. Is this the "miracle" being used for cannonization?
ReplyDeleteand btw, is the public given any access to the nun who was supposedly cured by the modernist John Paul II?
"Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature" St. Augustine
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