Kateri Tekakwitha was a Mohawk-Algonquin woman who lived in the 17th Century in what’s now Auriesville, New York, and Quebec, Canada. Disfigured and partially blinded by smallpox, she embraced Catholicism and eventually left her tribe for a Catholic mission. She was revered for her kindess and work with the elderly and sick. She died in 1680, when she was just 24. Accounts say after death, her blemishes miraculously disappeared and followers later saw her in visions.
Flash forward to winter 2006, and the town of Ferndale, Washington. Then 5-year-old Jake Finkbonner split his lip playing basketball, which became infected. This evolved into an aggressive, flesh-eating disease that rapidly spread through his face and chest. The prognosis was grim, and a Catholic priest administered last rites.
Jake’s mom, Elsa Finkbonner, says a nun then visited the hospital…and presented them with a small pendant with Kateri Tekakwitha’s profile and name on it.
“And she gave us a card with a prayer on back," says Finkbonner. "And I prayed that same prayer over Jake everyday. And it’s my firm belief that she (Kateri Tekakwitha) interceded when it came to healing Jake.”
The Finkbonners say almost immediately the disease stopped progressing. Two months later, after several reconstructive surgeries to his face, Jake came home.
“I also think it was Kateri who kept the disease from going through my brain where it could have killed me there, or I could have been deaf or I could have been blind," says Jake Finkbonner, now 11.
"She stopped those possibilities so I could be just like a normal child.”
The Finkbonners are Lummi Indian, and Catholic. Jake’s recovery and its connection to "Blessed Kateri" spurred an investigation by Catholic officials. They determined that Jake’s recovery was the second miracle attributed to her. Then last December, Pope Benedict XVI declared that Kateri Tekakwitha would become canonized…the final step to sainthood.
Many Native American Christians are celebrating. Margo Gray-Proctor is an Osage Indian and devout Catholic living in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She took “Kateri Tekakwitha” as her confirmation name.
“It was easy for me to pick that," she says. "I couldn’t have related to another saint. So many different things she had, but above all, it was her faith.”
But others say this does little to fix the damage the Catholic Church inflicted on native communities through the centuries. Robert Roche is an Apache, and executive director of the American Indian Education Center in Cleveland.
“It’s actually laughable," says Roche. "The Catholic Church, the "Black Robes", the Jesuits, were instrumental in forcing Native Americans into boarding schools…to strip us of our identity, our culture, our language, our spirituality. And it wasn’t done in a humble fashion, believe me.”
But some native people say it’s time to let go of the past. Cleveland resident Avis Hudson-Burnette is of Dine, Lakota, and Nakota heritage. She’s Episcopalian but keeps a portrait of Tekakwitha in her home.
“You know, we have to move on," says Hudson-Burnette. "It’s not good and even our traditional elders would tell you that it’s no good to hold grudges, no good to feel any kind of negative emotions `cause it hurts you. Forgive and move on. Of course, you don’t have to forget...but it’s more important to forgive.”
Critics and supporters agree that having "Saint Kateri" will likely boost the Catholic Church’s profile across Indian Country. And neither side wants to take away from the Finkbonners’ joy and relief at their son’s survival.
Jake Finkbonner says he’s looking forward to meeting the Pope in Rome later this year. He says he wants to become a plastic surgeon when he grows up, to help kids who’ve suffered from diseases like he did.