Across Canada: Mohawk saint canonized

Notes: Judy Smith-Martin is a Mohawk parishioner from St. Peter's Anglican Church, part of the Six Nations Parish near Brantford, Ont., who went to Rome to attend the canonization of Kateri Tekakwitha by Pope Benedict XVI on 21 October 2012. "It doesn't matter that Kateri Tekakwitha is a Catholic saint, said Smith Martin ... 'She's a Mohawk and I'm a Mohawk. She's still a saint for the Mohawks. It's a great honour', she said in an interview". "It was 'so exhilarating', said Smith-Martin, to be at St. Peter's Square for the ceremony, attended by about 200,000 people. Pope Benedict XVI opened the ceremony by referring to Saint Kateri as 'protectress of Canada and the first native American saint'. She also lived 'a life radiant with faith and purity', he said. 'Kateri impresses us by the action of grace in her life in spite of the absence of external help and by the courage of her vocation, so unusual in her culture'."

Subjects: Tekakwitha, Kateri, Saint, 1656-1680; Christian saints - Catholic Church; Benedict XVI, Pope, 1927-2022; Mohawk - Canada; Indigenous peoples - Canada - Religion; St. Peter's Anglican Church (Brantford, Ont.); Smith-Martin, Judy