"Where a Mohawk woman became the first Native American saint, and the ground remembers both worlds"
Shrine of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Fonda
Village of Fonda, New York, United States
On the north bank of the Mohawk River in upstate New York, a modest shrine marks the place where Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk-Algonquin woman, was baptized in 1676. Beneath the shrine lies the excavated village of Caughnawaga, the only fully uncovered Haudenosaunee settlement in the world. Catholic pilgrims come for the first Native American saint. The land holds a more complicated story.
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Quick Facts
Location
Village of Fonda, New York, United States
Coordinates
42.9501, -74.3928
Last Updated
Feb 25, 2026
Learn More
Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680) was a Mohawk-Algonquin woman who converted to Catholicism and was baptized at Caughnawaga in 1676. Orphaned by smallpox, scarred and partially blind, she pursued a life of extraordinary Catholic devotion that alienated her from her community and led to her exile at a Jesuit mission near Montreal, where she died at twenty-four. Canonized in 2012 as the first Native American Catholic saint, her story sits at the intersection of faith and colonialism. The shrine was established in 1938 on the archaeological site of the Caughnawaga village.
Origin Story
Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 at the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, present-day Auriesville, New York. Her father was Mohawk; her mother was Algonquin and Christian, likely baptized by French missionaries before her capture and adoption into the Mohawk community. When Kateri was about four, a smallpox epidemic swept through the village, killing her parents and brother. Kateri survived but was left with scarred skin and weakened eyesight.
She was raised by her uncle in the village of Caughnawaga, on the present shrine site. Jesuit missionaries were active in the community, and Kateri was drawn to their teaching. In 1676, at age twenty, she was baptized by Father Jacques de Lamberville, taking the Christian name Catherine in honor of Catherine of Siena.
Her conversion brought consequences. According to Jesuit accounts, Kateri faced hostility from community members who saw her rejection of traditional practices, including her refusal to marry, as a betrayal. In 1677, she fled north to the Jesuit mission of Kahnawake near Montreal. There she lived three years of intense devotion: prayer, fasting, and physical penances that contemporaries described as extreme. She died on April 17, 1680, at twenty-four.
The Jesuit accounts of her death describe an event that would fuel her cause for sainthood: within minutes of her passing, the smallpox scars that had marked her face reportedly disappeared, leaving her skin clear. This report, attested by priests who knew her, has no modern parallel or scientific explanation.
Key Figures
Kateri Tekakwitha
Tekakwitha
saint and historical figure
Born 1656, died 1680. Mohawk-Algonquin woman baptized at Caughnawaga in 1676. Canonized in 2012 as the first Native American saint in the Catholic Church. Known as the 'Lily of the Mohawks.' Patron of ecology, the environment, people in exile, and Native Americans.
Father Jacques de Lamberville
missionary
French Jesuit priest who baptized Kateri Tekakwitha at Caughnawaga on April 18, 1676, and who documented aspects of her spiritual life.
Father Thomas Grassmann
founder and archaeologist
Franciscan friar who established the Fonda Memorial of Catherine Tekakwitha in 1938 and led the archaeological excavation of the Caughnawaga village from 1950 to 1956. His dual roles as priest and excavator shaped the shrine's identity as both devotional site and archaeological landmark.
Darren Bonaparte
historian and cultural commentator
Mohawk historian who has provided critical indigenous perspective on the Jesuit narratives surrounding Kateri's life, noting how hagiographic accounts constructed her holiness by contrasting her with the alleged sinfulness of her Mohawk kin.
Pope Benedict XVI
religious leader
The pope who canonized Kateri Tekakwitha on October 21, 2012, making her the first Native American Catholic saint and designating her patron of ecology and the environment.
Spiritual Lineage
Kateri's devotional lineage runs through Catholic channels. Her cause for canonization was introduced in 1884, and the process moved through the stages of Venerable (1943), Blessed (1980), and Saint (2012) over more than a century. The Franciscan Friars have maintained the shrine since 1938. Her indigenous lineage runs through Haudenosaunee memory and contemporary Mohawk identity. The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe acknowledges her on their official website. The Tekakwitha Conference, established in 1939, brings together indigenous Catholics annually to explore the intersection of Native spiritual traditions and Catholic faith. The Mohawk Akwesasne Choir's participation in feast day celebrations represents an ongoing effort to honor both dimensions of Kateri's identity. These two lineages do not always agree about what Kateri's story means. The Catholic lineage emphasizes her holiness and the universality of her appeal. The indigenous lineage holds a more complex view, recognizing both the genuine faith of a remarkable woman and the colonial context that shaped her choices. The shrine is the place where both lineages converge, and the conversation between them continues.
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