Kateri Tekakwitha (1656--1680) is the first Native American to be venerated by the Roman Catholic church. As a Christian convert, in an Iroquois community that possessed a longstanding hostility to all things French, Tekakwitha became an outcast in her village and was forced to flee to a mission near Montreal, where she died at the age of 24. Sometimes called "the Lily of the Mohawk," she was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980.

Caught Between Two Cultures

Tekakwitha was born in 1656 in Ossernenon, near what is modern Auriesville, New York. Her father, Kenneronkwa, was a Mohawk and member of its Turtle clan. Her mother, Kahenta, was Algonquin and hailed from a village near Trois Rivieres, Quebec. Kahenta had been converted to Christianity by early missionaries to the area. The Algonquin were one of first Native American populaces to ally with French traders but were bitter foes of the...