This week on Fresh Ground Theology’s The Weekend Cup, we begin the story of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, a seventeenth-century Mohawk woman born into a world increasingly shaped by disease, warfare, trade, and rivalry between European empires. After smallpox kills her parents and brother, the young Tekakwitha survives with impaired eyesight and permanent facial scars. She is raised by her uncle and aunts within the Turtle Clan while the Mohawk nation navigates its relationships with Dutch, English, and French settlers.

As Jesuit missionaries enter Mohawk territory, Tekakwitha becomes interested in Christianity despite her family’s suspicions. Her resistance to an arranged marriage reveals the quiet resolve that will later define her faith. After receiving instruction from Father Jacques de Lamberville, she is baptized on Easter Sunday in 1676 and receives the name Kateri. Her baptism does not remove her suffering or erase her Mohawk identity, but it begins a costly journey of discipleship.

Sources: Ellen H. Walworth, The Life and Times of Kateri Tekakwitha: The Lily of the Mohawks; Pierre Cholenec, The Life of Catherine Tekakwitha; Claude Chauchetière, The Life of the Good Catherine Tekakwitha; Allan Greer, Mohawk Saint; Daniel K. Richter, The Ordeal of the Longhouse; The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents.

Music: Adventure Beyond by Alexander Nakarada (https://creatorchords.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0