On July 14, the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee marked the feast day of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American to be named a saint by the Catholic Church.

“Today is the Feast of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American to be recognized by the Catholic Church as a saint,” the diocese posted on Facebook. “‘Kateri’ is the Mohawk form of the name Catherine, from St. Catherine of Siena. She is patroness of Native Americans and those in exile. St. Kateri, please pray for us!” 

St. Kateri Tekakwitha was the daughter of an Algonquin woman and a Mohawk chief, a report from Catholic.org said. She was born in 1656 in a Mohawk village. She was orphaned at a young age after her entire family died in a smallpox outbreak, and she was thereafter raised by an uncle. She converted to Catholicism when she was 19, and she often prayed for her fellow Mohawks to see the wisdom of Christianity and convert. She took the name Kateri in honor of St. Catherine of Sienna. 

Some of Kateri's fellow tribesmen disliked the fact that she converted, Franciscan Media said. They made her life miserable, so a priest advised her to leave. She ran away and ended up at a Christian community near Montreal, 200 miles away. After arriving there, she dedicated her life to praying and fasting. Kateri took a vow of virginity at age 23, an act that was unprecedented among Native American women who viewed their futures as being dependent upon marriage.

When Kateri passed away at age 24, witnesses said that her smallpox scars were erased and her face looked like that of a healthy child, Franciscan Media said. 

She is the patron saint of indigenous Americans.

St. Kateri is also known as Lily of the Mohawks, a report from Britannica said. She is the first Native American to be honored as a Catholic saint. Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1980, and Pope Benedict XVI canonized her in 2012. Her feast day is celebrated each year on July 14.