The daughter of a Mohawk chief and a Christian Algonquin woman, St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656. In life she faced many trials.Smallpox claimed the lives of her parents. Tekakwitha survived, but the disease damaged her eyesight and scarred her face. Later, she converted to Catholicism and took the name Kateri, or Catherine. She died in 1680 and was canonized in 2012, becoming the first Native American saint. She is known for her purity, which earned her the name “Lily of the Mohawks,” and her example led to the conversion of many. Her feast day is July 14. Honor St. Kateri by putting on a play about her life, eating foods like cornbread that were enjoyed by the Mohawk people, or by making crosses from sticks as Kateri was known to do.