The daughter of a Mohawk chief and a Christian Algonquin woman, St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656. In life she faced many trials.Smallpox claimed the lives of her parents. Tekakwitha survived, but the disease damaged her eyesight and scarred her face. Later, she converted to Catholicism and took the name Kateri, or Catherine. She died in 1680 and was canonized in 2012, becoming the first Native American saint. She is known for her purity, which earned her the name “Lily of the Mohawks,” and her example led to the conversion of many. Her feast day is July 14. Honor St. Kateri by putting on a play about her life, eating foods like cornbread that were enjoyed by the Mohawk people, or by making crosses from sticks as Kateri was known to do.
Canonized in 1975, Elizabeth Ann Seton is the first American-born saint. Born into a wealthy family in 1774 she was exposed to many of the social graces of her time. She founded the first Catholic girls’ school and later the first sisterhood in the United States on July 31, 1809. She took vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and service to the poor on July 19, 1813. Throughout her life, she loved to dance and kept the silk ballet slippers of her youth. They can be viewed at her shrine in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Dance and support Catholic education in her honor.