07/14/2026
St. Kateri Tekakwitha Feast Day
First American Indian to be beatified by Pope Paul II on June 22 1980. She became a saint when she was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at St. Peter’s Basilica on October 21, 2012.
Born in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, in present-day New York, she and her family contracted smallpox in an epidemic; she was the only one of the family to survive, but had scarring on her face. She was influenced by French Jesuit missionaries and converted to Catholicism at age 19.
After taking a vow of perpetual virginity, she left her village, and moved to the Jesuit mission village of Kahnawake, just south of Montreal. There she died five years later, respected for her piety and good works.
Catholic Mass will be celebrated at the O'Hare Chapel today at 11:30 a.m.