St. Kateri Tekakwitha
Beatified by Blessed John Paul II in 1980, Kateri Tekakwitha was proclaimed the first Native woman saint by Pope Benedict XVI on October 21, 2012.

This moving documentary takes us on a journey from Upstate New York State to Montreal and Kahnawake; from Washington State to New Mexico, as we follow St. Kateri’s incredible journey of deep faith, heroic sacrifice and love of Christ. Featuring many people who have been touched by her —including the little boy who received the miraculous healing that led to her canonization, this splendid film shows that no one is too simple or too young to follow Christ.

“In Her Footsteps” paints the vivid picture of a brave young native woman, with scarred face and poor vision, who would become a source of healing, courage and divine insight for millions of people throughout the ages.

St. Kateri’s earthly life was hidden in the seventeenth century, yet her message continues to resound through time, reminding us of all that is good, beautiful, holy, pure and enduring about the Christian life and message. She is a true symbol of the enduring links between Catholicism and our native brothers and sisters, the indigenous people of our lands.

As patron of ecology and the environment, she teaches us how to love and respect the created world and care for it. An instrument in her own lifetime of the First Evangelization, through her death and membership in the Communion of Saints, Kateri Tekakwitha is an enduring model of the New Evangelization for the Church.
Short clip of the Canonization of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha
Full Mass of the Canonization of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha


About Saint Kateri Tekakwitha
The “Lily of the Mohawks” was a virgin of the Mohawk tribe. Her parents and brother died of smallpox when she was four years old, and so she was adopted by her aunt. Smallpox still dotted her face and impaired her eyesight. Despite these obstacles, Tekakwitha shunned all marriage proposals and lived chastely. In 1667, Jesuit missionaries arrived at her tribe, and it was then that she converted to Christianity, accepting baptism later.

Shunned and abused by relatives for her faith, Tekakwitha escaped to a cabin where she practiced austere mortifications and is said to have experienced union with God in prayer. Upon her death, a devotion to her started immediately among her people. Today many pilgrims visit her grave in Caughnawaga, Quebec where a monument to her memory was erected in 1884. Pope John Paul II beatified her June 22, 1980.

Pope Benedict XVI canonized her on October 21, 2012. Her feast day in Canada is April 17; in the United States, it is July 14.