St. Kateri is the first Native American saint. She was born in 1656 to the daughter of a Mohawk warrior and a Catholic Alqonquin.

When Kateri was four years old smallpox attacked her family. Her mother and little brother died from the disease. Kateri’s face was scarred by the disease and she became partially blind. Her two Aunts and an Uncle adopted her.

On Easter, 1676, Kateri was baptized by Jesuit missionary Father Jacques de Lambertville at the age of 20. She was devoted to prayer, penitential practices and the care of the sick and aged in Caughnawaga near Montreal. Her relics are now enshrined in Caughnawaga..

Because of her conversion, she incurred hostility from her tribe. She went to a new Christian colony in Indianan, Canada. She was devoted to the Eucharist and to “Christ crucified.” She spent much time praying before the Blessed Sacrament. Her motto was…

“Who can tell me what is most pleasing to God that I may do it?”

At the age of 23 Kateri died on Wednesday of Holy Week, at approximately 3 p.m. Within fifteen minutes after her death, her face, which was marked by smallpox, was healed and became beautiful. Father Cholone called others to see what had happened.

Miraculous cures at the Sault Mission were frequent that year (1682) and attributed to Kateri. She appeared to many people after her death, always carrying a cross.

She was beatified (declared Blessed) by Pope John Paul II in 1980 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter’s Basilica on October 21, 2012.

We celebrate St. Kateri‘s feast day on July 14. She was known as “the Lily of the Mohawks”.

St. Kateri Takakwitha is the patron saint of the environment.

St. Damien of Molokai was born Joseph de Veuster on Jan. 3, 1840 in Tremelo, Belgium. He was raised on a farm. He chose the name Damien when he joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Damien was still in minor orders when he volunteered to go to Hawaii. Two months after his arrival in Hawaii, he was ordained a priest on May 24, 1864.

The Hawaiin King Kamehameha IV created an isolated settlement on the island of Molakai to deal with the public health crisis. Many people were dying of influenza, syphilis and leprosy. Father Damien wished to minister to the sick so he asked his Bishop to send him to Molokai knowing the risk of death.

When he arrived in Molokai, there were 600 lepers for him to minister to. He built the Parish Church of St. Philomena for the people to learn the Catholic faith. He restored personal pride and dignity to people who needed hope. He provided care and comfort for sixteen years. working as a priest, doctor and builder. He built houses, a school and an orphanage. Not only did he dress their ulcers, he also built over 600 coffins and dug graves.

Father Damien said ” My greatest pleasure is to go there (the cemetery) to say my beads, and meditate on that unending happiness which so may of them are already enjoying.”.

In 1885, Father Damien contracted leprosy. In his final years, he enlarged his orphanages and sought help. St. Marianne Cope came with her sisters to help him while he was ill. She reassured him she would carry on his work.

Father Damien died at the age of 49 on April 15, 1889.

The feast day of Father Damien is celebrated on May 10.

Father Damien was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 4, 1195.

St. Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 11, 2009.

St. Damien is known as “The Apostle of the Lepers.”

St. Damien of Molokai is the patron saint of Hawaii, leprosy and the outcast.

St. Marianne Cope was the first Franciscan woman from North America to become a saint.

The birth name of St. Marianne Cope was Barbara Koob (now officially Cope) She was born on Jan 23, 1838 in SE Hessen, West Germany. She was one of ten children. Her father was a farmer. The family moved to the United States one year after her birth.

Her vocation to the religious life was delayed by the necessity to support her family when her father became ill. At the age of 25, Barbara entered the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, New York. She received her religious habit and the name of Sister Marianne. She served as a teacher and principal in several elementary schools in New York. She also helped establish two of the first hospitals in central NY. In 1870, she became a nurse administrator at St. Joseph’s in Syracuse, NY.

In 1882, a priest requested help managing hospitals and schools in Hawaii; primarily working with leprosy patients. She responded to his letter with the following words.

“I am hungry for the work and I wish with all my heart to be one of the chosen ones, whose privilege it will be to sacrifice themselves for the salvation of the souls of the poor Islanders…I am not afraid of any disease, hence, It would be my greatest delight to minister to the abandoned lepers.”

Along with six other sisters of St. Francis, she arrived in Honolulu in Nov. 1833. Mother Marianne was the supervisor as they managed Kakóako Branch Hospital on Oahu which treated 200 leprosy patients. They began by thoroughly cleaning the hospital. They also opened a home for the healthy daughters of the patients who were ill.

Mother Marianne met Fr. Damien (now St. Damien…the Apostle to Lepers) in January 1884 while he was still healthy.

In 1887 the new government in charge of Hawaii closed the Hospital. In 1888, she went to Kalaupapa several months before the death of St. Damien. She reassured him she would provide care for the patients at the Boy’s Home at Kalawao on the Island of Molokai.

Three Sisters ran the Bishop Home for boys and girls.

Mother Marianne died in Hawaii of natural cause on August 9, 1918 and is buried on the grounds of Bishop Home.

The Saint Marianne Cope Shrine and Museum was built to honor her memory.

Mother Marianne was beatified on May 14, 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI.

St. Marianne Cope was canonized on Oct 21, 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.

The feast day of St. Marianne Cope is celebrated on January 23.

St. Marianne Cope is the patron saint of outcasts.