Kateri Tekakwitha, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior and an Algonquin Christian, was born near the town of Auriesville, New York in the year 1656. She was given the name Ioragode which meant "Sunshine". She was four years old when her family died of smallpox. The disease also attacked Ioragode, disfiguring her face and weakening her eyes. She was adopted by two aunts and an uncle. They renamed her Tekakwitha - She who feels her way along. Tekakwitha lived the life of a Mohawk but never forgot the Christian teachings of her mother.

A visit by Catholic missionaries reignited Tekakwitha's interest in Christianity. She converted to Catholicism as a teenager and received the sacrament of baptism at the age of twenty. Tekakwitha was given the Christian name Kateri upon her baptism. Kateri incurred great hostility from her tribe as they regarded her devotion to God as an abondonment of their customs. Although she had to suffer greatly for her Faith, she remained firm in it. Kateri's motto was, "Who will teach me what is most agreeable to God so that I may do it?"

Kateri fled to the new Christian colony of Indians in Canada. There she lived a life dedicated to prayer, penitential practices, and care for the sick and aged. Each morning she stood before the chapel door waiting for it to open. Kateri prayed throughout the day, remaining in chapel until after the last Mass. She was devoted to the Eucharist and to Jesus Crucified. She died on April 17, 1680 at the age of twenty-four. Within minutes of her death her disfigured face shone radiant with light.

Kateri was declared venerable by the Catholic Church in 1943 and was Beatified in 1980. Saint Kateri Tekakwitha,Virgin, was canonized on October 21, 2012, the first Native American to be declared a Saint.
Her feast day is July 14. Also known as the "Lily of the Mohawks", she is the patroness of the environment and ecology.

Devotion to Kateri is responsible for establishing Native American ministries in Catholic Churches in the United States and Canada. Hundreds of thousands have visited shrines to Kateri in both Fonda, NY and at St. Francis Xavier in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Pilgrimages to these sites continue today.