Today is last day that the Church will observe the Memorial of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. She was beatified in 1980 when John Paul II waived the requirement for a first miracle (or so says Huffington Post, I know that when she died her smallpox scars disappeared, but maybe things like that don't count). The second miracle required for canonization was the healing of Jake Fishbonner from skin-eating bacteria in 2006 (Warning: There are some pretty unpleasant pictures on this page).
Kateri will be canonized on October 21, 2012, so, when July 14, 2013 rolls around, we will be celebrating the feastday of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. This makes me very happy. I've loved her since I was a little girl, and my oldest daughter chose Kateri for her Confimation name. I'm sure all the Native American Catholics, and probably other Native Americans will be happy too, not to mention people with skin-eating bacteria. I'm afraid we are going to see a lot more of that and it will be comforting to have someone to have a patron for those who are suffering from it.
AMDG
I'm glad you posted this. I usually don't think about saints' days till they're over or almost over, but I noticed last night that hers is today and thought about posting something, but didn't think I could get it together.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of her without thinking of Leonard Cohen's bizarre novel, Beautiful Losers. She appears in it but exactly in what capacity I can't say. I read it in college and all I remember is that there was an awful lot of talk about sex, that Kateri Tekakwitha popped up from time to time, and that it was bizarre. I believe it was assigned reading in a religion class, along with Norman Mailer's An American Dream, equally bizarre and sicker. Oh, those 1960s...
Anyway, I'm glad she's being canonized.
I'm glad I wasn't in your religion class.
ReplyDeleteAMDG
I didn't realise that she hadn't been canonised. I remember reading about her in primary school (which must have been very shortly after her beatification) and coming away with the impression she was a saint!
ReplyDeleteAnd you were! I always suspected that you were a precocious child.
ReplyDeleteAMDG