St Kateri Tekakwitha is the first Native American saint. Following a petition by 906 Native Americans and two certified miracles, she was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980 and canonised by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

Early Loss
Born the daughter of the Mohawk chief Kenneronkwa and Algonquin Christian lady Kahenta in 1656, she lost her parents and baby brother to smallpox when she was only four years old. The disease scarred her face for life and partially blinded her.

She was adopted by her uncle, who was a chief of the Turtle Clan. As Mohawks, they were members of the Iroquois Confederacy, known as the Six Nations. After the epidemic, they established a fresh settlement in New York, called Caughnawaga: “place of the rapids”. The girl was named Tekakwitha, meaning “she who bumps into things”.

Mortal Danger
French colonists – allied with the Huron, who were enemies of the Iroquois – attacked the Mohawks, attempting to capture territory to expand their fur trade. They burned three villages, destroying their crops. Aged ten, Tekakwitha escaped into the wintry forest with her relatives.

Defeated by the French, the Mohawks were forced into a peace treaty. One of the conditions was that Jesuit missionaries could enter their villages. The Jesuits studied native languages and customs so that they could explain the faith to the Mohawks in terms they could understand.

The eleven-year-old Tekakwitha met three Jesuit missionaries, who introduced her to the faith. Her uncle disapproved, as one of his daughters had become Catholic and left the village to join a Catholic mission near Montreal, called Kahnawake, a variant of Caughnawaga.

Acts of Mercy
During the summer of 1669, the Mohawks managed to repel a sudden dawn invasion by several hundred Mohican warriors. Thirteen-year-old Tekakwitha joined other girls assisting Fr Jean Pierron in tending to the wounded, burying the dead, and bringing refreshments to their defence force.

The Mohawks tortured captive Mohicans before executing them. Fr Pierron begged them to stop the torture but was ignored. He imparted the faith to the Mohicans and baptised them before they died. Tekakwitha observed his example of mercy.

Familial Expectations
When she came of age at thirteen years old, Tekakwitha’s aunts expected her to marry, as was the custom. However, Tekakwitha had no desire for an earthly marriage, and resisted their matchmaking efforts for four years. Her aunts punished her with heavy workloads and much scolding, but she quietly persisted in her own way until they left her alone.

In the spring of 1674, the Jesuit priest Fr Jacques de Lamberville came to their village. Tekakwitha had injured her foot and was not with the other women harvesting corn. She expressed her deep desire to become a Christian, and Fr de Lamberville began to catechise her.

Fr de Lamberville observed that Tekakwitha was a mild-mannered young lady who strove to lead a virtuous life despite the difficulties and opposition she encountered among her community. After several months of instruction, he deemed that she was ready to enter the Catholic Church.

On Easter Sunday 1676, Tekakwitha received the sacrament of Baptism, taking St Catherine of Siena as her patroness. Her relatives were sorely disappointed with her choice and began to shun her. Some Mohawks falsely accused her of sorcery, and she could no longer rely on her uncle’s protection. Six months after being baptised, Kateri journeyed to the Jesuit mission of Kahnawake, where other native converts had settled.

New Friends
Kateri made her new home in the same longhouse as her older adoptive sister, who was married. Her mother’s close friend Anastasia Tegonhatsiongo was the clan matron and took Kateri under her wing. The Mohawk ladies at Kahnawake taught Kateri the customs of Catholicism; the French missionaries were busy with other duties. The missionary Fr Pierre Cholenec wrote: “All the Iroquois who come here and then become Christians owe their conversion mainly to the zeal of their relatives.”

Another new friend for Kateri was Marie-Thérèse Tegaianguenta. They prayed together, and longed to form a religious order for native women, but the Jesuits discerned that they were yet too “young in faith” to found a sustainable group.

Kateri often fasted and performed various penances, praying diligently for the conversion of her relatives back in Caughnawaga. Anastasia encouraged her in this practice, but Kateri was so zealous that her poor health worsened. Fr Claude Chauchetière intervened, explaining that penance is meant to be done in moderation.

In 1680 during Holy Week, the 24-year-old Kateri became very ill. On Holy Wednesday around 3 p.m. – the Hour of Mercy – she died in the arms of Marie-Thérèse after receiving the last rites from Fr Cholenec. Her last words were: “Jesus, Mary, I love you.”

The villagers reported that upon her death, Kateri’s scarred face became smooth and radiant. In the weeks afterward, Anastasia, Marie-Thérèse and Fr Chauchetière saw visions of her. She told Marie-Thérèse: “I’ve come to say good-bye; I’m on my way to heaven.”

Within four years, people began to come to the chapel near Kateri’s grave on pilgrimage, seeking her intercession. The miracle which led to her canonisation was the 2006 healing of a young Native American boy from a flesh-eating bacterium.

Life Lessons
From Kateri’s example, we can learn to be firmly devoted to God, even when the people around us think we are being silly. She is the patron saint of people ridiculed for their piety, along with those who are orphans and exiles.

Despite her youth and early trauma, Kateri found faith, hope and joy in our Father in Heaven, Who provided her with the friends and mentors she needed to continue on her path of virtue. Let us also seek out communities where we can be supported in our faith and morals, particularly in the face of modern temptations and ideologies. Also, like Kateri, let us pray for our loved ones to encounter Christ and be conformed to Him.

We recently celebrated Father’s Day. Fathers are vital to their children’s wellbeing and success in life. Research has shown that those whose fathers spent more quality time with them as children usually end up with higher IQs and better jobs in life.

Conversely, those who grow up without involved fathers have a lower chance of going to university or obtaining gainful employment, and often end up in prison. A father’s love and presence in his children’s lives builds a firm foundation for them to develop a secure identity and sense of purpose.

An Upright Man
On 22 June each year, we commemorate the execution of a just man: St Thomas More. A brilliant lawyer and honourable judge who had graduated from Oxford, More was appointed Lord Chancellor of England, second in political importance only to the king. He was a close friend of King Henry VIII.

Thomas More’s son-in-law and biographer William Roper recalled how the Lord Chancellor prioritised his family above his service to the king: “Because he was of a pleasant disposition, it often pleased the King and the Queen… at the time of their supper… to call for him to be merry with them.

“They delighted so much in his talk that he could not once in a month get leave to go home to his wife and children (whose company he most desired). When he was absent from the court for only two days, he was sent for again.

“Much disliking this restraint upon his liberty, More began to dissemble his nature somewhat. Little by little he changed from his usual mirth that he was not so frequently sent for.” A clever, diplomatic ruse which allowed him to fulfil his role as a husband and father, without offending the king outright.

More attained his high-ranking position because of his honesty and efficiency. After serving as a member of Parliament from 1504, in 1510 he became an undersheriff of the City of London. Unlike many other public servants, More refused bribes and became well-known for his integrity. Thus, King Henry VIII took note of his virtue and invited him to become his privy councillor in 1518. In 1523, More was elected the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Emphasis on Education
The second of six children to the lawyer and judge Sir John More and his wife Agnes, Thomas considered abandoning his legal career to join the Carthusian monks. However, he discerned that his vocation lay elsewhere, and married Jane Colt the year after his election to Parliament.

Thomas had three daughters and a son with Jane, who passed away in 1511. He swiftly married his good friend Alice Middleton so that his small children would have a mother to look after them, and received Alice’s daughter from her first marriage as his own child. On top of this, he was the foster father of two young girls, Anne Cresacre and Margaret Giggs. Margaret was later the only member of his family to witness his execution.

Sir Thomas More gave his daughters the same quality education as his son, an unconventional choice for a parent of his time. He also tutored his first wife, Jane, in music and literature, to improve upon the education she had received at home. More’s decision to educate his daughters inspired other noble families to do the same.

More wrote many affectionate letters to his children while away on business, and eagerly awaited their replies.

Piety and Orthodoxy
Though he lived in the world and had a large circle of friends, Sir Thomas More continued his devout prayer life, wearing a hair shirt as a form of self-mortification. Furthermore, although he subscribed to the new trend of humanism, More held firm to the teachings of Holy Mother Church, and recognised the Protestant Reformation as a threat to the unity of Christendom, dividing church and state. He was a prolific writer of religious and political works, including the famous Utopia. As Lord Chancellor of England, the foremost judge of the nation, it was his job to sentence heretics to burn at the stake, but he refused to have them whipped and tortured first.

Ironically, King Henry VIII also wrote against Protestant heresies, producing the pamphlet Declaration of the Seven Sacraments Against Martin Luther. For this, Pope Leo X granted him the title of Defender of the Faith. Only a few years later, unable to produce an heir and unable to divorce and remarry, Henry VIII decided to break from the Catholic Church, setting up the Church of England with himself as the head of the new sect.

Thomas More could not in good conscience condone this schism, and refused to sign the Oath of Supremacy, which declared the king to be the supreme head of the Anglican Church. He resigned as Chancellor, and in 1533, he did not attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn as the Queen of England, though he wrote a polite letter expressing his well-wishes.

His lack of attendance was still seen as a snub, and the king had false charges brought against More of accepting bribes. Lack of evidence saw the charges dismissed, but he was later arrested on grounds of treason for failure to accept the Oath of Succession confirming Anne as queen and rejecting the Pope’s authority.

As depicted in the excellent Oscar-winning film A Man for All Seasons (1966), false testimony by the Solicitor General Richard Rich was brought against Thomas More, sealing his fate. He was imprisoned for over a year in the Tower of London, where he wrote A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, a short story in conversational form, reflecting that all suffering can be beneficial if you respond to it with faith and trust in God. His eldest biological daughter Margaret Roper (nicknamed Meg) visited him as often as she could and smuggled his letters out under her dress.

On 6 July 1535, Thomas More was beheaded, stating that he died as “the king’s good servant, and God’s first.” He was so calm that he could joke in the face of death, telling the executioner to be careful of his beard, as it was innocent of any crime.

Legacy
More’s son-in-law Will Roper had become a Lutheran for some time. More tried reasoning with him, but perceiving that his arguments bore no fruit, decided to pray instead. Roper credits his father-in-law’s fervent prayers for his return to the faith.

St Thomas More’s adopted daughter Margaret buried his decapitated corpse; his biological daughter Meg rescued his severed head. The former Margaret risked her life to help the Carthusian Martyrs, who starved to death in prison for refusing to renounce the faith.

Do not let your mind be troubled over anything that shall happen to me in this world. Nothing can come but what God wills. And I am very sure that whatever that be, however bad it may seem, it shall indeed be the best. – Thomas More’s last letter to Margaret (Meg)

Today, St Thomas More and his fellow martyr Bishop John Fisher (the former tutor of Henry VIII; killed on 22 June) are commemorated by the Anglican church as saints, being martyrs of conscience. The Anglican writer Jonathan Swift (author of Gulliver’s Travels) wrote that Thomas More was “a person of the greatest virtue this kingdom ever produced”. The Anglican priest and poet John Donne described him as “a man of the most tender and delicate conscience that the world saw since Augustine.”

Thomas More continues to be a model of prayer, inner strength and faith for us today. He is a patron saint of adopted children, widowers, large families, civil servants, politicians and lawyers. Although he had to abide by his conscience and sacrifice his earthly fatherhood, his courageous witness to God’s truth made him a steadfast spiritual father for time immemorial.

A Prayer by Saint Thomas More

Grant me, O Lord, good digestion,
and also something to digest.
Grant me a healthy body,
and the necessary good humour to maintain it.
Grant me a simple soul
that knows to treasure all that is good
and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil,
but rather finds the means to put things back in their place.
Give me a soul that knows not
boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments,
nor excess of stress,
because of that obstructing thing called “I”.
Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humour.
Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke
to discover in life a bit of joy,
and to be able to share it with others.
Amen.

The true way to advance in holy virtues is to persevere in a holy cheerfulness.
If you wish to go to extremes, let it be in sweetness, patience, humility, and charity.
~ St Philip Neri

St Philip Neri’s feast is usually celebrated on the 26^th of May. A friend of St Ignatius of Loyola, and the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, known as the Oratorians, St Philip is called the third Apostle of Rome after Sts Peter and Paul.

Born in a poor family, though related to Italian nobility, Philip was a pious young lad tutored by the Dominicans in the humanities. He often went to the Dominican chapel to pray. Receiving a vision that he was called to Rome, he left everything behind and went.

Working as a tutor while studying philosophy and theology, Philip began to settle into the Eternal City. After awhile, thinking his studies were interfering with his prayer life, he decided to sell all his books and gave the money to the poor.

A Fresh Start

Cast yourself into the arms of God and be very sure that if He wants anything of you, He will fit you for the work and give you strength.
~ St Philip Neri

Instead of scholarly pursuits, Philip started visiting and tending to sick and impoverished pilgrims. He gathered a group of people to engage in this charitable work, while living as a lay hermit. This became the Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity.

On the eve of Pentecost in 1544, Philip was praying in the catacomb of St Sebastian when he fell into a mystical ecstasy and experienced a vision of a globe of holy fire that entered his chest; he had the sensation of God’s overwhelming love. “Enough, enough Lord, I can bear no more!” he cried. After his death, the doctor found that two of his ribs had bowed further outwards and he had a physically enlarged heart.

Philip longed to be of service to God and man. He thought of joining the Jesuits in their mission to India. However, he received visions telling him that his place was in Rome. Though it was the mighty centre of Christendom, it was also full of the poor, lacking education and catechesis. He was advised that he could do even more good as a priest, so he entered the seminary.

Ministry

Ordained to the priesthood in 1551, Fr Philip spent hours hearing confessions. Like Padre Pio, he could read souls and tell penitents what sins they needed to confess. Fr Philip also began ministering to the youth, finding safe places for them to engage in play.

Pope Gregory XIV tried to make him a cardinal, but Fr Philip declined. He established the Congregation of the Oratory in 1575, a group of priests and lay brothers dedicated to preaching and teaching. They live together in a community bound together by no formal vows, but only with the bond of charity, emulating the first disciples of Christ. Today, there are eighty-six Congregations of the Oratory across the world.

Saint of Joy

A joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one.
~ St Philip Neri

Fr Philip became so popular that he was accused of creating his own sect. Thankfully, he was cleared of this false allegation. He was aware of how people were setting him on a pedestal, and took steps to dispel their adulation of him, doing all sorts of silly things to emphasise his humanity and make others stop venerating him as a living saint. He wanted all their attention and the glory to be directed to God alone.

Among other things, Fr Philip was found reading a joke book when dignitaries came to see him; he neatly shaved off half his beard when invited to a party for the elite, embarrassing the host, who had wanted to bask in the reflection of his fame as a holy man; and wore funny large white shoes while out and about. When a novice was far too serious, Fr Philip stood on his head, to make him laugh.

He applied these lessons to others as well. When some of his more self-important, pompous penitents made their confessions, he imposed deflating penances on them, such as walking through the streets of Rome carrying his cat.

Pope John Paul II observed, “It is the laws of the Gospel and the commandments of Christ that lead to joy and happiness: this is the truth proclaimed by St Philip Neri to the young people he met in his daily apostolate. His was a message dictated by the intimate experience he had of God especially in prayer…

“He did not choose the life of solitude; but, in exercising his ministry among the common people, he also wished to be ‘salt’ for all those who met him. Like Jesus, he was equally able to enter into the human misery present in the noble palaces and in the alleys of Renaissance Rome.”

May we learn from St Philip to serve and evangelise wherever God has placed us, in our local communities; and to maintain a joyful disposition as far as possible, trusting fully in God’s providence and recognising our humble status as His creatures.

St Philip Neri’s life story is beautifully depicted in the 2010 movie I Prefer Heaven – an excellent film to watch and discuss with your family or class.

Prayer to St Philip Neri

O holy St Philip Neri, patron saint of joy,
you who trusted Scripture’s promise
that the Lord is always at hand
and that we need not have anxiety about anything,
in your compassion heal our worries and sorrows
and lift the burdens from our hearts.
We come to you as one whose heart swells
with abundant love for God and all creation.
Hear us, we pray, especially in this need (make your request).
Keep us safe through your loving intercession,
and may the joy of the Holy Spirit which filled your heart, St Philip,
transform our lives and bring us peace. Amen.