St. Kateri Tekakwitha
Patron Saint of Ecologists and the Environment
Born to a Christian mother, Lily of the Mohawks, now known as St. Kateri Tekakwitha was an Algonquin-Mohawk. Kateri was raised by her uncle after her parents died of the smallpox epidemic when she was four years old. When she was 19, St. Kateri converted to Catholicism. She was baptized and renamed Kateri in honor of St. Catherine of Siena. After her baptism, St. Kateri left her village and moved to the Jesuit mission village for the remaining five years of her life. St. Kateri is known for her virtue of chastity as well as her perseverance in her religiosity despite being shunned by many members of her tribe. She is the fourth Native American to be venerated in the Catholic Church, and the first to be canonized.