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Many are attracted to the holiness of St. Kateri Tekakwitha and the extraordinary life she led as a Native American convert to Christianity.
However, her name isn't the easiest to pronounce and for those who are not of Native American descent, the name remains a mystery.
What does Kateri Tekakwitha mean?
When St. Kateri was baptized as an adult, she took the name Catherine in honor of St. Catherine of Siena.
This name was translated into the Mohawk language, where it is spelled Kateri.
For most of her life she was better known in her tribe as Tekakwitha.
Tekakwitha was her given name and has a complex history behind it.
According to author Ellen Hardin Walworth in The Life and Times of Kateri Tekakwitha, the name has two meanings:
How she won her name is not known, though Indian names have always a meaning. They are never arbitrarily given. The word Tekakwitha, as M Cuoq the philologist translates it, means "One who approaches moving something before her." Marcoux the author of a complete Iroquois dictionary renders it, "One who puts things in order."
Other sources claim it means, "she who bumps into things."
Walworth explains one possible explanation behind the first meaning of her name:
It has been suggested in reference to M Cuoq's interpretation that the name may have been given to her on account of a peculiar manner of walking caused by her imperfect sight. for it is related that the smallpox so injured her eyes that for a long time she was obliged to shade them from a strong light. It is possible that in groping or feeling her way while as a child, she may have held out her hands in a way that suggested the pushing of something in front of her and thus have received her name.
This story appears to be the most widely accepted story, though Walworth gives another alternate example for the secondary interpretation of her name:
On the other hand, the interpretation of M Marcoux as given by Shea is thoroughly in keeping with her character. She indeed spent a great part of her life, as the record shows, in putting things in order.
St. Kateri Tekakwitha, pray for us!
