Word: tekakwitha
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...black gowns returned the favor. Catherine Tekakwitha, a 24-year-old Iroquois virgin who died of self-mortification in 1680, having been convinced that her animal nature was sinful and must be scourged, was declared blessed by Pope John Paul II three centuries later. So ends a chronicle in which fanaticism and torture become indistinguishable. And in which the most fully rounded character is that of the obsessed and eccentric author, interrupting himself constantly with marginal ironies and references to his own 20th century travels, looking on in fascination and disgust, and wishing all dogmatists, as he says...
...bishops under the dome of the basilica. The Indians, representing 35 tribes from ten states and Canada, came bearing gifts for Pope John Paul II, including a peace pipe and beaded leather moccasins. But the purpose of their visit to Rome was to celebrate the beatification of Kateri Tekakwitha, the "Lily of the Mohawks," a 17th century Indian woman who converted to Christianity and clung to her faith resolutely, despite tribal torments, until her death...
...Kateri Tekakwitha was one of five candidates, two women and three men, to be beatified, or declared "blessed," during the Mass, the last step before full sainthood. Like Kateri, the other four all lived more than three centuries ago. They were missionaries who brought the Christian faith to the people of Brazil, Guatemala and Canada. Kateri is the first American Indian as well as the first American layperson to be beatified...
...Kateri Tekakwitha is a good example. Her cult grew in upstate New York, where for 200 years after her death local Catholics prayed to her for intercession. But only in 1884 did an Albany priest propose her "cause" to the Vatican, with the hope of canonization. Decades passed in the gathering of evidence of Kateri's "fame of sanctity" and heroic virtues...
...conviction is growing," a Vatican official told TIME Correspondent Wilton Wynn, "that other, 'signs' should be accepted, such as a great number of extraordinary 'favors' or 'graces' that can be proved and attested by serious investigation." All those beatified last week, including Kateri Tekakwitha, took a giant step toward sainthood without benefit of any fully authenticated miracles...