TEKAKWITHA, CATERINA, venerable. - Indian virgin, b. in 1656 at Ossernenon, an Iroquois village near present-day Albany (where, a decade earlier, the Jesuit martyrs St. Isaac Jogue and his companions had been killed), d. at Caughnawaga, near Montréal, 17 Apr. 1680.
Her father, an Iroquois, was a pagan; her mother, an Algonquin, a Christian. Orphaned at the age of 4 and adopted by a pagan uncle, she grew up innocent. In 1675 she came into contact with the missionaries, and on 5 Apr. 1676 she was baptized by the Jesuit missionary Fr. Giacomo de Lamberville. Transferred the following year to the mission of S. Francesco Saverio at Sault near Montréal, she gave examples of extraordinary piety and mortification, and acquired a great reputation for holiness. She is the first Native American for whom a cause of beatification has been initiated. Her virtues were declared heroic by decree of 3 Jan. 1943.