Three representatives from Maine’s Passamoquoddy tribe plan attend the October 21 Canonization Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, where Pope Benedict XIV will elevate  the Algonquin Nation Native American, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, to sainthood.

“I have been praying for Kateri’s canonization for many years now,” said Deacon Richard Phillips Doyle, who plans to travel to Rome with his wife Patricia Phillips Doyle and Deacon George Stevens.

“I see her canonization as an affirmation of the Universal Church’s acceptance and commitment to all people, regardless of race or ethnicity,” Doyle said.

Blessed Kateri (1656-1680) was a disciple of the colonial French Jesuits, known as “Black Robes” by the Native Americans, because of their cassocks.  Missionary Father Claude Chauchetiere and his colleague Father Pierre Cholenec chronicled her life in the published journals “The Jesuit Relations.”

In fact, the Jesuits are among the groups that advocated for sainthood with Rome, beginning soon after the young “Mystic of the Mohawks” died in the mission village of Kahnawake, near Quebec.

In York County, an outdoor shrine dedicated to Kateri Tekakwitha is located on the grounds of Kennebunkport’s Franciscan Monastery. It was dedicated in the 1940s, shortly after her cause for sainthood was blessed and her status was venerated.

Doyle is a leader of the Passamaquoddy tribe located in Eastern Maine.  He says his “heart leapt for joy” when he heard the news about Kateri’s canonization.  It was an answer to many years of prayer.

“The faith and spirituality of the native people throughout this country has been a strong part of our Passamaquoddy culture.  As a native person, I’m grateful and honored by the opportunity to go to Rome, with my wife, for Kateri’s canonization,” he said.

Blessed Kateri was the daughter of a 17th century Algonquin Mohawk chief.  Despite overwhelming tribal resistance, she was converted to Christianity by the colonial French Jesuits, on Easter Sunday, April 18, 1676.

Among the miracles attributed to her cause for canonization happened in 2006, when a young Native American boy named Jake Finkbonner, from Sandy Point, near Bellingham, Washington, was stricken with a fatal flesh-eating bacterial disease.  Advocates for Blessed Kateri prayed for his cure.

This cure was among several approved miracles needed by the Vatican, paving the way for Kateri’s canonization.

Deacons Doyle and Stevens will represent both the Passamaquoddy tribe and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine when they attend the October 21, canonization Mass.

“I feel like attending the canonization is a blessing for me and all Native American people,” says Doyle.

In anticipation of the canonization, Maine’s Passamaquoddy hosted a series of anticipatory religious programs organized in Eastern Maine, at the St. John Cemetery along the banks of the Pennaumaquan River in Washington County, at the St. Croix Island International Park in Calais, at The Memorial Park in Baileyville and at Peter Dana Point.

On Oct. 7, a meditation is planned at noon, at Split Rock in Sipayik, in Eastern Maine. A play about the life of Blessed Kateri will be presented twice on Sunday, October 7, at 4 and 7 PM at the Immaculate Conception Church in Calais.

Follow-up programs will be hosted by the three Passamaquoddy delegates after their return from Rome.

French-Canadians and Franco-Americans have followed the Blessed Kateri cause for sainthood ever since the religiously influential French Jesuits documented important and mystical events in her life. Their eyewitness accounts supported her cause through almost three and a half centuries.

Kateri has been named “Lily for All Nations”, by indigenous people around the world, who follow her cause.

Information about the Kateri Tekakwitha’s life and canonization is available at the website dedicated to Indian Missions at http://www.blackandindianmission.org

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