Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits

by Allan Greer

On October 21, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI canonized Saint Kateri Tekakwitha as the first Native North American saint. Mohawk Saint is a work of history that situates her remarkable life in its seventeenth century setting, a time of wars, epidemics, and cultural transformations for the Indian peoples of the northeast. The daughter of a Algonquin mother and an Iroquois father, Catherine/Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680) has become known over the centuries as a Catholic convert so holy that, almost immediately upon her death, she became the object of a cult. Today she is revered as a patron saint by Native Americans and the patroness of ecology and the environment by Catholics more generally, the first Native North American proposed for sainthood.

Tekakwitha was born at a time of cataclysmic change, as Native Americans of the northeast experienced the effects of European contact and colonization. A convert to Catholicism in the 1670s, she embarked on a physically and mentally grueling program of self-denial, aiming to capture the spiritual power of the newcomers from across the sea. Her story intersects with that of Claude Chauchetiere, a French Jesuit of mystical tendencies who came to America hoping to rescue savages from sin and paganism. But it was Claude himself who needed help to face down his own despair. He became convinced that Tekakwitha was a genuine saint and that conviction gave meaning to his life. Though she lived until just 24, Tekakwitha's severe penances and vivid visions were so pronounced that Chauchetiere wrote an elegiac hagiography shortly after her death.

With this richly crafted study, Allan Greer has written a dual biography of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha and Chauchetiere, unpacking their cultures in Native America and in France. He examines the missionary and conversion activities of the Jesuits in Canada, and explains the Indian religious practices that interweave with converts' Catholic practices. He also relates how Tekakwitha's legend spread through the hagiographies and to areas of the United States, Canada, Europe, and Mexico in the centuries since her death. The book also explores issues of body and soul, illness and healing, sexuality and celibacy, as revealed in the lives of a man and a woman, from profoundly different worlds, who met centuries ago in the remote Mohawk village of Kahnawake.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Canada, Native American History, Religion, Biography, Native American

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Allan Greer is a professor in the Department of History and Classical Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Colonial North America at McGill University, Montréal.

Reviews

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting! I'd never heard of Catherine Tekakwitha before (but then again I'm very not versed in Catholicism or saints). She went through a lot and did a lot. It's not my place to judge her ascetic punishments to herself, nor Christian converted Iroquois society at the time either. I really liked Greer's attempt to understand her beyond the Jesuits' interpretation of her and the legacy she has today. I also appreciate the epilogue, where he explored how people see her today. I don't really understand the veneration of saints, but if it makes someone who needs help feel seen, all the power to them.

Also I was the only person in my class who could pronounce all the French names and terms, so hehe that was fun. I got a 5/5 on my book notes so that's another bonus! I really should've attempted to read the whole book, though. I feel like my skimming practices for class is kinda harshing my Goodreads rep but whatevs. I genuinely don't have time to do anything but skim!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read. Excellent background and breakdown from very few and faulty (in their own way) sources that break down barriers and assumptions. I was skeptical that I would enjoy it so much but I actually feel like this is one of my very favorite non-fiction reads. (History of Missions and Missionaries)

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A historian's look at St Catherine ("Kateri") Tekakwitha. I wish there were more books like this about saints: it's a thorough review of all the primary materials from people who knew the saint personally, with a lot of relevant historical context on the saint and her hagiographers (in this case, two French Jesuits).

American Catholics could start with this book without much knowledge about the time period or church history. It's easy to follow. The author is well-qualified to write this history. He edited the definitive version of The Jesuit Relations , the most important primary text about the time and place that St Catherine Tekakwitha lived in.

I guess some Catholics might be turned off by the author's detached academic perspective instead of a passionate spiritual experience. That didn't bother me. St Catherine Tekakwitha is exceptional even if you choose to emphasize the author's skepticism (for example, his opinions on the saint's posthumous healing powers seem pretty clear).

In the epilogue, the author describes the process of Catherine Tekakwitha's eventual canonization. She wasn't a saint yet when this was published (2004; she was canonized in 2012). I am curious if the author has written anything else about her since her canonization.

Last point: this is a short book. Maybe the best praise I could give it is that I wish it had been longer. Recommended for American Catholics or anyone interested in American Indians (especially in New France).

[Shayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay so we read this for my colloquium and INSANE! My friend and I couldn’t stop giggling at the insanity of Jesuit practices… which were then taken to extremes by Native peoples. But I guess that is just syncretism lol! Aside from the humor we found in it, Mohawk Saint was a highly informative and wonderful read that expanded my knowledge about French missionary practices in Canada. A must read for understanding colonial relations with Native cultures through the lens of religion.

4/5 stars

[Jacob Hiserman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greer maintains that Catherine Tekakwitha illustrates central themes such as the body, death, illness, healing and sexuality as phenomena of European contact and colonization in North America. He clearly distinguishes his methodology as cultural and not hagiographic. Additionally, Greer uses Tekakwitha to demonstrate the Indian side of the story of contact through an individual’s life. Such a method has not been used by other historians. His work is divided into eight chapters that focus in turn on Tekakwitha and her first biographer, Fr. Claude Chauchetiere, and the themes mentioned above. On the subject of Fr. Chauchetiere, Greer interprets him as an unusual Jesuit in the story of North American missionary work because of his uncommon spiritual crisis when faced with the realities of missionary work and his categorization of Catherine Tekakwitha as saintly without the appendage “savage” common among Jesuits of that time. Greer’s interpretive framework is refreshing but at times does not strike a balance when discussing popular versus institutional religion. For instance, he states “but even tinges of Catholic coloration would not alter the fundamentally Iroquoian nature of the practices described” (105). Such a quote leaves little interpretive room for institutional and popular religion to mingle and that chapter (chapter four) hammers in the intractable nature of Iroquois beliefs as a central premise while Tekakwitha’s religious tenets and practices were portrayed as more Iroquois than Catholic in Greer’s sixth chapter. Greer plays up the Iroquoian roots of Tekakwitha’s morals and marginalizes the Catholic influence upon her. Of course, his interpretation is partially healthy because it makes Tekakwitha more Indian and less European by extracting her from the late nineteenth century “primitivism” she was popularized within. Overall, Greer’s fine study commends itself to the cultural historian seeking a text on North American Indian contact with Christianity and a Catholic seeking more cultural and social background to the life of a well-beloved saint.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greer's work is provides a fascinating glimpse into the lost world of early colonial America. A world that lasted hundreds of years, of European settlement gradually expanding across the East Coast, accompanied by fascinating cultural, diplomatic, and religious exchange between the indigenous population and the strange newcomers. Newcomers who brought with them new technology and knowledge of medicine, but also racist perceptions and apocalyptic outbreaks of alien diseases - and, of course, a strange new God. The story of Catherine Tekakwitha, this Mohawk convert to Catholicism, is a microhistory, a personal story that offers a fascinating broader insight into this far-off world.

Although I love the concept, I had my issues with this book. Greer's writing is dense and at times messy. More crucially, though, I find myself disagreeing with Greer's presentation of her as a 'Mohawk Saint' in the first place. Catherine Tekakwitha's sainthood was justified by presenting her as culturally European (her skin even being presented as light in both her biographies and the only surviving painting of her), and her healing cult was only embraced by French-Canadian settlers, as it was incompatible with Iroquois beliefs about the afterlife. Catherine Tekakwitha, the real person, may have been Mohawk, but Catherine Tekakwitha, the idealized religious figure, is indisputably a colonial creation.

[Christopher G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allan Greer is a professor of History at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia, his Master of Arts from Carleton University, and his Ph.D. from York University. His other works include Peasant, Lord, and Merchant: Rural Society in Three Quebec Parishes, 1740-1840 in 1985 and The Patriots and the People: The Rebellion of 1837 in Rural Lower Canada in 1993. Dr. Greer has won several awards for his work and is qualified to write on the subject of Catherine Tekakwitha.

Allan Greer pieces together biographies, primarily written by two Jesuit priests as well as others, to tell the story of Catherine Tekakwitha and her journey from adopted Mohawk Native American to orphaned, religious Christian convert. Greer details the relations between the Iroquois and Mohawk Native Americans in relation to French colonization and conversion efforts in the second half of the 17th Century. Greer weeds through the evidence and questions some of the claims of Tekakwitha’s main biographers. Regardless of Tekakwitha’s sainthood status, Greer does a great job of using her story to show how the inhabitants of Kahnawak helped shape the culture and identity of Montreal.

Catherine Tekakwitha was born 1656 in Gandaouague, a village situated along the Mohawk River in what is now New York State. Her mother, a devout Catholic Algonquin, had been kidnapped by the Mohawk as the two tribes constantly warred with each other. Tekakwitha endured a frail and sickly existence due to a childhood battle with smallpox that she contracted when she was six. In 1666, the French raided her village forcing the tribe to relocate. In her youth, Tekakwitha is described as an excellent craftsman but that her personality was modest, chaste, and withdrawn. Greer suggests this may be due to her biographer’s wish to portray her in a certain light for sainthood.

It wasn’t until 1675 that Tekakwitha began to visit the Jesuit priests in a departure from her former indifference to Christianity. The Mohawk conversion rates saw increases around this time. That Spring she was recovering from a foot injury when a priest disarmed her resistance to explore the faith. She was baptized into the faith on Easter Sunday of 1676. She was given the “Christian name” Catherine. According to her biographers, she perfectly followed the rules that a Native American convert should in that she rejected their pagan practices and worshiped God accordingly. For her diligence, and due to increasing tensions within the tribe, Tekakwitha was persecuted by family members for her faith. In 1677, in response to Jesuit persuasion to move to a new settlement, Catherine headed for Canada.

The French did conquer the Mohawk, but they did not rule them, allowing them the autonomy to develop a unique identity. After embracing Christianity and subsequently joining a migration sponsored by the Jesuits to the mission settlement of Kahnawake / Sault St. Louis in 1677, Catherine became part of a group of Christian Iroquois women who renounced marriage and sexual relations. They subjected their bodies to fasting, flagellation, and enduring the pain of fire and cold as forms of discipline. For the Iroqois converts, their christianity wasn’t French, but their own. This group’s devotion to Catholicism and self-flagellation practices would unite them and ultimately influence the culture and identity of the Montreal area of Quebec. Christianity became a requirement to live in the settlement. Catherine’s health further deteriorated as she continued self-flagellation practices in her twenties. She passed away when she was around twenty-four years old. It wasn’t until 300 years after her death that she was beatified by Pope John Paul II. She has yet to be canonized as a saint.

Catherine’s upbringing in Iroquois culture was marked by a preoccupation with death, much like early modern Europe. However, while European Christians primarily feared the annihilation of the self and the impending judgment determining one’s eternal destiny, the Iroquois, like the French, focused more on how death affected their loved ones. According to the Jesuits who were around to witness it, her death represented a divine act that eradicated the marks of disease, suffering, and racial inferiority, transforming her into a luminous corpse emanating a saintly aura. Father Chauchetiere, who had experienced supernatural visions of Catherine, hesitated to produce a hagiography about her, not due to her non-canonized status, but rather because of her Native American background. For the Jesuits, the concepts of “savages” and “saints” were perceived as belonging to separate realms. Another Jesuit, Cholenec, also struggled to reconcile these two concepts. Nevertheless, both of them, along with other individuals from different perspectives, wrote biographies about Catherine and the world of Iroquois Christianity, leaving behind a wealth of knowledge about her story.

Greer owes a great extent of his sourcing to Fathers Chauchetiere and Cholenec, from whose eyewitness biographies of Tekakwitha a large portion of the work is sourced. He employs several other historians work on the subject as secondary sources. Greer cites his own work on the subject as well. I enjoyed the history of Tekakwitha very much as I tend to be interested in religious conversions. My heart breaks for anyone who beats themselves up mentally or physically at the detriment of their health over religious ideology.

My only gripe is that there is a whole chapter devoted to Claude Chauchetiere, Tekakwitha’s main biographer. I found this chapter to be disjointing in that it really took the focus away from Tekakwitha. I know the purpose was to help us understand his perspective and how he portrayed Tekakwitha, but it seemed exhaustive. Greer is aware of this as he somewhat apologizes in the notes. I recommend this book for anyone interested in French and Native American relations. The book is intended for scholarly purposes but is easily accessible by any reader.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceptionally well-written! Imagine those sneaky Jesuits hiding holy water up their baggy sleeves and secretly baptizing those Algonquin babies (when their parents weren't looking!)

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ordinarily I would say that you don't need to dig this deep into a single person's life unless you are singularly interested in that person's life, but I am grateful to have deepened my overall perception of the "first contact" period of Native Americans and European colonists. Tekakwitha's life is a great lens to see how that history happened to both sides, with a great deal of compromise, adaptation, and integration.

Here's a big old block passage that I highlighted:

Native cultures were not fixed and timeless edifices, ready to crumble on first exposure to Europe's transatlantic thrust. Rather, they were historically evolving societies that had known centuries of change, not to mention periodic upheavals—the most significant one we know of in the case of the Iroquois being the adoption of agriculture around A.D. 1000—long before the time of Columbus. As in the past, Mohawks of the seventeenth century adopted products, ideas, and techniques from the outside world; they adopted human beings from neighboring nations, too; and the technology, like the people, was integrated into their society. Inevitably their culture changed in the process, but it was neither eradicated nor replaced by a foreign culture. There is no denying the fact that the Mohawks of Tekakwitha's day lived through major crises and that their customs and outlook were profoundly affected by the colonial presence. But, then, Europeans in America were also transformed through contact with native societies. Our understanding of these processes is badly skewed if we think in terms of a zero-sum 'contest of cultures,' with Indian civilization falling victim to a triumphant Euro-American culture. The language of 'layering' and 'interpenetration' or, to borrow Natalie Davis's vocabulary, the 'braiding' of cultures, better serves us. With a renewed conceptual apparatus of this sort, we can hope to come to terms with the continuity of Mohawks and Iroquois culture through all the shocks and ruptures of the seventeenth and subsequent centuries and down to the present day.

[Abraham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this if you wish, but I don't think this is a very well written review.

The bibliographic description on the reverse side of the title page of Mohawk Saint includes two subject headings that include the term biography. Allan Greer wrote an excellent monograph that probes the lives of Catherine Tekakwitha, Claude Chauchetière, and Pierre Cholenec. The term biography is a rather limiting term, in that it implies a study of these individuals within history. Rather, Mohawk Saint is a microhistory, because, as Jill Lepore argues, this genre will “will always draw the writer's, and the reader's, attention away from the subject and toward the culture.” (Jill Lepore, “Historians Who Love Too Much: Reflections on Microhistory and Biography” in The Journal of American History 88 no. 1 (Jun., 2001), 142.) In the introduction, Greer makes it clear that the goal is not just to weave a narrative about Tekakwitha, but also to craft a history of what it was like to live through the upheavals of the early North American colonies. For Greer, this work becomes a microhistory because an understanding of the cultural surroundings is just as important, if not more important, than an understanding of the primary actors.(Greer, iv, viii, ix.) Greer accomplishes this by examining hagiographies and multi-disciplinary works in order to examine the religious lives of Tekakwitha and Chauchetière within the context and in order to better understand the collision of European and Native American cultures.

Greer's first goal in Mohawk Saints was to explore the religious lives of both Tekakwitha and Chauchetière. The work explores more than the contact between Tekakwitha and Chauchetière, but also explores the religious and spiritual construction of the two. Greer argues that, for Chauchetière, “under the surface of this rather ordinary missionary career, the spiritual autobiography reveals a truly remarkable inner life.”(Ibid, 61.) The author explains to the reader how the individuals developed spiritually within the accepted norms of their culture, and yet, how they were exceptional. Chauchetière was constructed as a mystic who sought to do battle with himself while doing the Lord's work. By using Chauchetière's own writings to provide the analysis, the author is able to describe how he viewed himself. This construction is compelling because it illustrates how Chauchetière viewed the world, yet also how his views of the world were created by the Order in which he lived. Greer's telling of Tekakwitha's story is similar because it explores her religious construction within the context of society. The author is required to deconstruct the documents written about Tekakwitha: “the process of constructing a historical biography on the basis of hagiography has required us to counteract the sources' tendency to treat Tekakwitha as an alien presence in the land of her birth.”(Ibid, 57.) Because Greer is using Chauchetière's and Cholenec's writings, he must cope with the knowledge that hagiography is biased towards the views of the Jesuits, who had an agenda in trying to canonize Catherine Tekakwitha. Greer attempts to undertake literary analysis of these works in order to examine these works within their traditional convention and within the context of Jesuits in New France. This analysis provides insight into the life of Tekakwitha, but it also provides a means to analyze the Jesuit views of Mohawk and Iroquois society, while also shedding light onto how the indigenous people viewed the Europeans.

Greer notes in the introduction that “if historians need ... to make themselves into anthropologists to study Indians of an earlier age, they must do something similar in examining the Europeans who contacted them.”(Ibid, x.) While Greer is crafting the story of Chauchetière and Tekakwitha, he also attempts to compare the Iroquois and European cultures through the major incidents in the lives of Tekakwitha and Chauchetière. Several major themes are the focus of the chapters of Mohawk Saint, including views of death and dying, constant change, mysticism, the body corpus with respect to mysticism, and views of community. In each of these chapters, Greer follows the advice laid out in the introduction in order to examine these issues. By analyzing the two sets of beliefs together, Greer constructs a comparative view that can further enlighten the reader to customs, practices and beliefs of each culture. Despite the differences made clear by the author, he attempts to bring the cultures together to show that they had similarities as well. Greer argues that the use of spiritualism, mysticism, and ritual acts as a bridge between the cultures. In Kahnawake, “religion served as a medium through which internal belonging and external affiliation were negotiated,” with the multitude of residents at this site would have seen human existence as bounded by the spiritual and incorporeal, which, as Greer believes, creates a link.(Ibid, 99-100; 105.) Because Mohawk Saint uses more than the 'traditional' historical sources and branches into a cross-disciplinary exploration of culture, Greer is able to successfully paint a picture of how religious belief in Mohawk and Iroquois culture intersected with European Christianity.

By looking at individuals within a larger societal context, Greer analyzes how individuals differ from the norm, but also illustrates the beliefs of two sets of people within a period of great flux. As Jill Lepore notes, microhistory uses an exemplary individual as a method for exploring a greater historical question or culture.(Lepore, 133.) By exploring the lives of Catherine Tekakwitha and Claude Chauchetière, Allan Greer is able to explore the spiritual views of two cultures meeting in the American north-east through the analysis of how these individuals were constructed. Because Greer views the past as a foreign culture, Mohawk Saint is able to construct a vivid microhistory describing remarkable individuals, and thus the creating specific examples of how the two colliding cultures viewed religion and mysticism.

[Rita Hosey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book delves into the profound history of Kateri and the Jesuits in New France, dating back to the 17th century. It's a fascinating exploration that sheds light on why the Natives viewed the Jesuits as shamans, performing rituals similar to those of their religious elders. The contrasts and comparisons presented in this book are truly eye-opening.

I read this book because it revealed in writing that my ancestors, Rene Cuillerier and Marie Lucault, were among the first to believe in the transformative power of Kateri's intercession. Marie was facing a difficult childbirth, and she and Rene accepted the use of Kateri's ashes as a means of survival. They promised a pilgrimage to the Indian village where Kateri was buried if the birth was successful. The birth was indeed successful, and this couple became the first in a line of people who prayed to Kateri for intercession.

Kateri was not granted sainthood until 2012. The process of becoming a saint is thoroughly explored in this book.

[Aden · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very successful microhistory of Iroquoia and French Jesuit relations that also (in a smaller way) is a takedown of the hagiographic form. I read this for a class, so I expected it to be very academic (which it is). I enjoyed how Greer structured this (as a dual biography, letting the readers into the lives of these unique actors on a personal level). I would critique the writing style a bit, as there are some awkward and messy paragraphs. There is so much here to talk about (i.e., martyrdom, embodiment, gender, religious suffering). I had a better time breaking this down with other students in my seminar than actually reading it, but I would definitely recommend for anyone interested at all in the subjects and themes.

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

(read for a class)

Good introduction to the origins of the "Mohawk Saint" Catherine (Kateri) Tekakwitha. Generally a comprehensive guide to understanding the progressive colonization of what became French Canada. Does not read too much like a textbook. It is a very readable "academic text" that can be read as a sort of interpretive narrative.

Like any other subject, do not use just one source to learn about a topic. If you are interested in Tekakwitha, or the idolization of indigenous/minority women by non-minorities, read this book among other sources.

[Cadence · Rating 4 out of 5]

really liked this story, this was very interesting to read.

Basically just a Jesuit who was obsessed with a Native Women who had been converted. He believed her to be Saint, however ppl only thought she was Saint until after she died.

lowk think that Jesuit was just very much obsessed and infatuated with her

[James Shearer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read

More than a book about a Indian saint this is deep dive into the life of the Indian people of the St. Lawrence region in the late sixteenth century as well as the Jesuit’s and Europeans that interacted with them. Very good.

[Michael Primiani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked how the author separated the history from the hagiography in order to provide a more truthful account of the subject's life. The first chapter about the stealth baptisms was 10/10.

[Julia Segre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, well-written, and assigned by my favorite professor for my favorite class. Insane Leonard Cohen lore in here btw.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

In his book Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits, Allan Greer writes about the clash and merging of Native and French cultures in Canada during the seventeenth century. The main character of Greer’s work is an Iroquois woman named Catherine Tekakwitha, who has been revered since her death by many pious Catholics as a saint. The book includes two secondary characters; the Jesuit priests Claude Chauchetière and Pierre Cholonec. The cultural background that Greer provides for both Catherine and Claude helps the reader understand the cultural similarities and differences between the Jesuits and the Iroquois and the unique character of Catherine who seems to have successfully navigated both worlds.
Greer argues that historians must approach all historical societies as essentially foreign. Greer would contend that just because one might be a French Canadian, does not mean that one automatically understands the mindset of a French Canadian living one, two, or three centuries ago. As such when writing a comparative study of two cultures, historians should use the skills of the anthropologists to understand all cultures being discussed because they are equally foreign to the modern reader.
With this in mind, Greer writes a double biography of the lives of Catherine Tekekwitha and Claude Chauchetière. The author follows the life of Catherine, the living and working conditions to which she was accustomed as an Iroquois, her movement to the Christian Iroquois community of Kahawake outside of Montreal, her interactions with her fellow converts including self-flagellation and the founding of an unofficial native convent, her death, a serious of miraculous healings attributed to her, and her beatification near the end of the twentieth century. Greer not only creates a thorough image of Catherine’s life but also of Iroquois customs including the economic and social importance of marriage, adoption to replace lost loved ones, and self-inflicted pain as part of preparation for pain in war. Some of these customs, especially self-infliction of pain, found parallels in Jesuit society.
Greer describes Claude’s life with a focus on his upbringing and education in Poitiers, his decision to go to Canada to serve as a Jesuit missionary, his on-going battle to overcome the self, his observations of Catherine, and his testimony of the healing power of Lady Catherine after her death. Greer places a great deal of emphasis on Claude’s home of Poitiers, especially regarding its proximity to Huguenots and the impact that this likely had on his education and mystical desire to accomplish “a merging of wills” with God. (75) This search led him to Canada and to the woman that would eventually heal his “own troubled soul”: Catherine Tekakwitha (169).
Greer relies heavily on the writings of two Jesuit Priests, Claude Chauchetière and Pierre Cholonec. Cholonec’s hagiography, holy biography, was completed in 1696, and focused on Catherine’s complete abstinence from sexual activity. Catherine’s decision to not marry proved to be a point of contention between herself and her Iroquois community. Completed in 1695, Claude’s hagiography gives a more complete description of the life of Catherine and the healings attributed to her after her death. Claude’s excitement for Catherine is obvious in his writing. For example, in his hagiography Claude describes the shrine-like appearance of Catherine’s tomb saying “her grave is surrounded by the children who have died since she has been there, as if this first Iroquois virgin, whom we believe to be in her glory, was pleased to have her chaste body surrounded by these little innocents like so many beautiful lilies.” (159)
Greer writes a fantastic book that can be enjoyed by the serious historian and lay reader. His investigation of French and Iroquois society, social uniqueness, and similarities demonstrates his devotion to principles of sound historiography.

Question: Allan Greer observes that many of the Christian practices adopted by Iroquois converts such as Catherine were extensions of Iroquois spirituality. What aspects of Christianity were completely new to these converts and can the adoption, or rejection, of these practices be used to judge their sincerity in adopting Christianity? Do any of these types of practices appear in the bibliographies written by Claude Chauchetiere and Pierre Cholonec?

[Sasha (bahareads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mohawk Saint is a biography of Tekakwitha that highlights the relations of Jesuits (and the French) with indigenous people. Personally, this wasn't my favourite read for the year. There's so little information out there on Catherine therefore Greer had to make a lot of educated guesses and suggestions about incidents in her life. I did appreciate Greer using a similar philosophy to that of Katherine DuVal; that Indians were not colonized by white people but had control over early interactions with Europeans. Relationships with the Jesuits would have been useful for political and commercial advantages. Greer covers European views of native women and the sexualization of native bodies. The interconnectedness of European religion and Indigenous relation in a syncretistic mix with Catherine was probably my favourite thing about Mohawk Saint .

[Daniel Silliman · Rating 3 out of 5]

At its best, this is a history of two entangled cultures interpreting, misinterpreting and re-interpreting each other. There are moments when it is great.

The book gets pulled in other directions, though. There, it's not so strong. Sometimes it becomes a reception history, looking at how Tekakwitha has been understood through history. Sometimes it becomes a deconstruction of the hagiographic genre. Sometimes it becomes speculative biography. It's always clear what the author is trying to do, but it is not always successful and the diverse parts detract from the whole.

[Genie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine book for any of those who have an innate interest in American Religious History. It can be a bit tedious at times, but still quite interesting. Not only does the author dive into the secret life of Tekakwitha he also shines a spotlight on the preacher who redeemed her as a hidden saint.

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author peeled away the hagiography rather well.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best cultural biographies I have read.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book was written before Catherine Tekakwitha was canonized. I grew up knowing her as Kateri Tekakwitha. It turns out I didn't need a correction because both names are correct. She was a Mohawk Native American.