08 Works, Today, July 14th, is St. Kateri Tekakwitha's day, her story in art #195

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha

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St. Kateri Tekakwitha is the first Native American to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. She was born in 1656, in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon. Her mother was an Algonquin, who was captured by the Mohawks and who took a Mohawk chief for her husband. Tekakwitha is the name the girl was given by her Mohawk people.

Father Chauchetière

Catherine Tekakwitha, 1656-1680, c. 1690

Oil on canvas

St. Francis-Xavier Church in Kahnawake, Qc. Canada

Claude Chauchetière (September 7, 1645 - April 17, 1709) was a French Jesuit missionary, priest, biographer, and painter. Claude Chauchetière is well known for his published work Annual Narrative of the Mission of the Sault from Its Foundation Until the Year 1686 which detailed his time in New France as a Jesuit missionary. For most of his mission work he was placed in the village of Kahnawake where he encountered Kateri Tekakwitha an Algonquin-Mohawk Jesuit convert, an encounter that immensely impacted his spiritual life. Later on Chauchetière would also actively work to get Kateri Tekakwitha canonized as a saint. More on Claude Chauchetière

Bernardino de Sahagún

Smallpox and the Native Americans
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Bernardino de Sahagún (c. 1499 – 5 February 1590) was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain. Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, he journeyed to New Spain in 1529. He learned Nahuatl and spent more than 50 years in the study of Aztec beliefs, culture and history. Though he was primarily devoted to his missionary task, his extraordinary work documenting indigenous worldview and culture has earned him the title as “the first anthropologist." He also contributed to the description of the Aztec language Nahuatl. He translated the Psalms, the Gospels, and a catechism into Nahuatl. More on Bernardino de Sahagún

She contracted smallpox as a four-year-old child which scarred her skin. Smallpox killed at least 30% of the Native Americans, killing tens of thousands. The scars were a source of humiliation in her youth. She was commonly seen wearing a blanket to hide her face. Worse, her entire family died during the outbreak. Kateri Tekakwitha was subsequently raised by her uncle, who was the chief of a Mohawk clan.

Trying to make inroads in Iroquois territory, the French attacked the Mohawk in present-day central New York in 1666. After driving the people from their homes, the French burned the three Mohawk villages on the south side of the river, destroying the longhouses, wigwams, and the women's corn and squash fields. Tekakwitha, around ten years old, fled with her new family into a cold October forest.

Dorothy M. Speiser

Kateri Lily of the Mohawks, #1

Watercolor on paper

I have no further description of this artwork at this time

Dorothy M. Speiser composes her work in either transparent watercolor, opaque watercolor, or pen and ink. Her work is distinguishable by its subtle color tones, its realism, and attention to detail. Her themes are varied but always include an appreciation for nature and/or reverence for the past. Dorothy paints a wide variety of art forms including landscapes, wildlife, still life, and portraits. Her art has garnered her many awards that include all the art forms. 

Dorothy Speiser, is one of the most widely recognized and collected wildlife artists in North America. Her elegant technique, exquisite detail, and lyrical compositions are matched with subject matter beloved by everyone. More on Dorothy M. Speiser

Kateri was known as a skilled worker, who was diligent and patient. However, she refused to marry. When her adoptive parents proposed a suitor to her, she refused to entertain the proposal. They punished her by giving her more work to do, but she did not give in. Instead, she remained quiet and diligent. Eventually they were forced to relent and accept that she had no interest in marriage.

Unknown artist

Kateri Tekakwitha converted to Catholicism

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At age 19, Kateri Tekakwitha converted to Catholicism, taking a vow of chastity and pledging to marry only Jesus Christ. Her decision was very unpopular with her adoptive parents and their neighbors. Some of her neighbors started rumors of sorcery. To avoid persecution, she traveled to a Christian native community south of Montreal.

M Dubois

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin, 1656–1680

Patron Saint of Canada and orphans

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According to legend, Kateri was very devout and would put thorns on her sleeping mat. She often prayed for the conversion of her fellow Mohawks. According to the Jesuit missionaries that served the community where Kateri lived, she often fasted and when she would eat, she would taint her food to diminish its flavor. On at least one occasion, she burned herself. Such self-mortification was common among the Mohawk.

Kateri was very devout and was known for her steadfast devotion. She was also very sickly. Her practices of self-mortification and denial may not have helped her health. Sadly, just five years after her conversion to Catholicism, she became ill and passed away at age 24, on April 17, 1680.

Upon her death witnesses said that minutes later her scars vanished and her face appeared radiant and beautiful.

Roseta Santiago

Saint Kateri-- Lily of the Mohawk

Oil on canvas & gold leaf

24"h x 20"w
I have no further description of this artwork at this time

Roseta Santiago was born and raised in Washington, D.C., where she studied graphic design and advertising. In 1976 she moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and then to Miami, Florida, spending twenty-four years designing, installing, and building themed public spaces. She was also contracted to paint murals in twenty-three Bass Pro Shops’ premier sporting goods stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Costa Rica. In 2000, after moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santiago realized her dream of becoming a fine art painter. Self-taught, she paints every day.


Mystery and light engulf the unique Western and Asian artifacts that are the subjects of her early body of work. She paints the beauty and integrity surrounding each of her subjects—usually objects that have been made by hand with primitive tools and resources—and is a master storyteller about the images she paints. Her current body of work expresses feelings and stories about the people who made these objects. “Traditional peoples are fascinating to me; their beliefs, regalia, ceremonies, and day-to-day life.” More on Roseta Santiago

Her name, Kateri, is the Mohawk form of Catherine, which she took from St. Catherine of Siena.

St. Kateri Tekakwitha was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 21, 2012. She is the patroness of ecology and the environment, people in exile and Native Americans. More on St. Kateri Tekakwitha

Unknown artist

St kateri tekakwitha

I have no further description of this artwork at this time

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