Virgin · Feast day July 14
St. Kateri Tekakwitha
The feast day of St. Kateri Tekakwitha is July 14, a memorial in the US Catholic calendar. Traditionally invoked as patron of ecology and Native peoples.
| Feast day | July 14 |
|---|---|
| In the US calendar | Memorial |
| Title | Virgin |
| Died | 1680 |
| Patron of | ecology, Native peoples |
| In their own words | 1 attributed saying (source unconfirmed) |
| Next on Bless’s Today screen | None left in the published calendar (through December 31, 2028) |
Life
Daughter of a Mohawk chief and an Algonquin Christian mother, orphaned by smallpox at four and left half-blind and scarred. Baptized at nineteen by a Jesuit missionary, she bore her village’s mockery and walked two hundred miles to the Christian settlement at Kahnawake.
There she lived three years of prayer, care for the sick and old, and a privately vowed virginity — unheard of among her people. She died at twenty-four; witnesses wrote that within minutes her scars vanished and her face shone. She is the first Native American saint.
Patron of
Tradition invokes St. Kateri Tekakwitha as patron of ecology and Native peoples.
Saints with the same patronage
- St. Francis of Assisiecology · October 4
Patronages are traditional, not an official list. All patron saints in Bless, A to Z.
In their own words
Attributed, source unconfirmed
These sayings circulate under the saint’s name, but no source has been confirmed. Bless shows them with that label.
Who can teach me what is most pleasing to God, that I may do it?
In Scripture
In Bless, St. Kateri Tekakwitha’s words appear in the comments beside these verses. This page’s labels say how each is linked: “on this verse” means the saint wrote about that very verse; “on this theme” means the quotation shares its theme. Scripture is quoted from the Catholic Public Domain Version.
On this theme · source unconfirmed
Lead my soul out of confinement in order to confess your name. The just are waiting for me, until you repay me.
Psalm 141:8 · CPDV Beside their words: “Who can teach me what is most pleasing to God, that I may do it?”
In the calendar
The upcoming dates, through December 31, 2028, when Bless’s Today screen shows St. Kateri Tekakwitha. Where the US calendar keeps another celebration that day, it is named instead and no rank is given.
Readings
No dates are left in Bless’s published calendar, which runs through December 31, 2028. St. Kateri Tekakwitha keeps July 14 in Bless’s calendar of saints: see the saints of July.
All the saints of July Born on July 14? A saint for every day
Spotted a mistake in a date, a patronage or a quotation? Report an error and we’ll fix it in the app and here.