St. Kateri Tekakwitha

St. Kateri Tekakwitha, known as the "Lily of the Mohawks," was born in 1656 in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, now Auriesville, New York. Her mother was a Christianized Algonquin, while her father was a Mohawk. At age four, she survived a smallpox epidemic that killed her family, leaving her with facial scars and impaired eyesight. In 1676, at the age of 19, she converted to Catholicism and was baptized as Catherine. She took a vow of perpetual virginity and moved to the Jesuit mission village of Kahnawake near Montreal, where she lived for the remaining five years of her life. Kateri's devotion and faith were marked by her self-mortification practices, which sometimes caused concern among the priests. She died on April 17, 1680, at the age of 24. Her path to sainthood began with her beatification by Pope John Paul II on June 22, 1980. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 21, 2012, becoming the first Native American woman to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. Her canonization was facilitated by two miracles attributed to her intercession, including the healing of a young boy in Washington state. Today, St. Kateri is revered as a patron saint of Native Americans, ecology, and those who have lost their parents, among other patronages.