"Scars are windows through which God's light pours" -St Kateri Tekakwitha

The Snow Squaw

Kateri Tekakwitha entered history at the crossroads of nations, cultures, and sorrows. Born in 1656 near present-day Auriesville, New York, she was the daughter of a Mohawk chief and an Algonquin Christian mother. She was a child woven from 2 peoples, 2 inheritances, and 2 ways of seeing the world. Smallpox swept through her village when she was 4, claiming her parents and brother, dimming her eyesight, and leaving her face scarred. Her people called her Tekakwitha which meant, “she who bumps into things,” a name capturing both her physical frailty where she was forced to navigate a blurred and broken world.

A heart claimed in secret

Raised by her aunts and an uncle who opposed the Christian faith, Kateri grew up in a village where the old ways and the new faith collided. Yet even in this tension, the memory of her mother’s whispered prayers remained like embers beneath ash—waiting for breath, waiting for flame and waiting for love. At 18, Kateri received instruction in the Catholic faith quietly. Her uncle allowed her baptism on one condition: she must never leave the village. On Easter Sunday, at age 20, she received the name Kateri—Catherine—after St. Catherine of Siena, another woman of fierce devotion and courage. Her baptism ignited hostility. She was mocked, threatened, and treated as a slave. When she refused to work on Sundays, she was denied food. Yet she would not bend. Her suffering became her gift.

Exiled for Christ

On the advice of a priest, Kateri fled her village under cover of dark. She walked more than 300 miles, through forest, river, and wilderness; to reach the Christian community at the St. Francis Xavier Mission near Montreal. This journey was not a physical escape; it was a pilgrimage toward the God who claimed her. At the mission, she found a home where faith was not forbidden and where prayer was not punished. She became known for charity, humility and a deep devotion to the Eucharist. She cared for the sick, elderly, abandoned—and those like her, who lived in the margins of 2 cultures.

Virginity as a Vocation

At 23, Kateri made a vow of perpetual virginity—an act unheard of among Native women, who were expected to marry for tribal continuity. Her vow was not a rejection of her people but a radical embrace of Christ. She consecrated herself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, choosing spiritual motherhood over biological reproduction. Her words reveal the depth of her trust. “I am not my own; I have given myself to Jesus. If I become sick and unable to work, then I shall be like Christ on the cross. He will have mercy on me and help me.”

Beauty in Death

In her poverty, she found freedom. In her weakness, she found strength. In her suffering, she found redemption. St Kateri died on April 17, 1680 at 24 years old. Her final breath was, “Jesus—Mary—I love you.” Witnesses testified that within minutes, the scars that had disfigured her since childhood, vanished. Her face became radiant, smooth, and filled with peace—as though heaven restored what the world withheld. Her legacy blossomed across centuries. Veneration to her case, led to the establishment of Native American ministries throughout America. She was beatified in 1980 and canonized in 2012, becoming the first Native American saint. Today she stands as patroness to orphans, the exiled, those ridiculed for their piety and the young who seek God with brave hearts.

Lily of the Mohawks

St. Kateri Tekakwitha teaches us that holiness is not born from ease. She shows that scars—physical, emotional, ancestral—do not disfigure the soul but become windows through which God’s light pours. She reminds us that gentleness is strength, purity is fire and love is a path through the thorns. Her life whispers to every teen heart that feels unseen, unloved or wounded: "You are not alone. You are not forgotten. You are not beyond beauty." And may her final prayer become ours: "Jesus—Mary—we love You." Her feast day is 4/17, her heavenly birthdate.