VATICAN CITY - Wearing Native American beads and feathers,
Hawaiian leis, classic Filipino shirts, or German dirndls,
Catholics from around the globe gathered in St. Peter's
Square to celebrate the recognition of seven new saints.
One of the pilgrims who came to celebrate the canonization of
St. Kateri Tekakawita Oct. 21 was Blessed Sacrament Father
Dana Pelotte, twin brother of the late Bishop Donald E.
Pelotte of Gallup, N.M., the first American Indian bishop of
the United States.
"I think the canonization will have a tremendous spiritual
effect on the native peoples - I really do. Being a native
person has so much spiritual beauty," and the canonization of
Kateri, the first indigenous saint of North America, will
strengthen that, said the priest, whose father was of Abenaki
descent.
Attending a reception sponsored by the U.S. Embassy to the
Holy See in the Vatican Museums' garden Oct. 19, Father
Pelotte was constantly approached by American Indian pilgrims
who told him of their love for his brother and how pleased he
would be by the canonization. "I know he's here in spirit
with us today," Father Pelotte told each one of them.
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia, a member of the
Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribe, told Catholic News Service
that he and his fellow Native American Catholics have been
praying for St. Kateri's canonization for a very long time.
The saint was born to an Algonquin Christian mother and a
Mohawk father, who died when she was young. She resisted
strong pressure from the Mohawks to abandon her faith, so she
could be considered a model for those facing religious
persecution, the archbishop said.
St. Kateri, who died in 1680 at the age of 24, also is a
model for the new evangelization, Archbishop Chaput said.
"She was a young, vibrant member of her community, but she
was different from the rest of them because of her unique
personal relationship with Jesus Christ, which is what
sanctity is generally about - it's about taking Christ
seriously in a personal way, in a way that goes beyond where
most of us go."
Clarence "Boogie" Kahilihwa and Gloria Marks were two of nine
patient-residents who came to the canonization from
Kalaupapa, Hawaii, where the new St. Marianne Cope ministered
among people with Hansen's disease, which is commonly called
leprosy.
Kahilihwa said St. Marianne left as her legacy "how she felt
toward humanity," and that her message is "never
underestimate" the value of person, no matter what their
sickness is; "and don't be afraid to challenge the
unchallenged and down low."
"I could have gone out a long time ago, but I chose to stay"
to help care for older members of the community, he said.
Kahilihwa also said part of St. Marianne's legacy is the
affirmation that there is no such thing as "a leper," because
leprosy "is a disease, not a person."
Marks, like Kahilihwa, came to Rome in 2009 for the
canonization of St. Damien de Veuster of Molokai, who founded
the Kalaupapa community and who later was among those cared
for by St. Marianne.
"I'm really proud because (there are) two of them from the
same county, the smallest county in Hawaii," she said. "Those
two put Hawaii on the map. So it's very, very important to
us."
U.S. citizens and residents also turned out in large numbers
for the canonization of St. Pedro Calungsod, a Philippine
teenager and catechist who was martyred in 1672 in Guam,
which is a territory of the United States.
At a thanksgiving Mass Oct. 22 at the Altar of the Chair in
St. Peter's Basilica, Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron of
Agana, Guam, called St. Pedro a wonderful model for Catholic
youth. "May it never be said that we who had the privilege of
witnessing the canonization of San Pedro did not make it
heaven!" he told the pilgrims, who included many young
people.
The archbishop, who concelebrated the Mass with retired
Cardinal Ricardo Vidal of Cebu, Philippines, composed a song
in honor of St. Pedro 12 years ago on the occasion of the
youth's beatification. Archbishop Apuron sang it during the
homily, demonstrating that he, too, saw the martyred saint as
a model.
"San Pedro proclaimed his faith using human means to attract
the Chamorros (native people of Guam) through the use of
visual aids, putting the doctrines and teachings to music so
as to enable the natives to learn the doctrines of the church
more easily," Archbishop Apuron said.
Discalced Augustinian Father Alex Remolino, a Philippine
priest working in Rome, said that in addition to being a
model for youth, "St. Pedro is a patron saint of our
emigrants."
St. Pedro left the Philippines to work with the Jesuits in
Guam, and he carried his faith with him, just as many
Philippine emigrants do today when they go abroad to study or
work, he said.
"Faith is part of our DNA," Father Remolino said. "Wherever
we go, we bring the Gospel. It's not just part of our
culture, but part of our character."
Contributing to this story were Carol Glatz and Francis X.
Rocca.