This detailed medal honoring the canonization of St. Kateri Tekakwitha in 2012 measures approximately 1 inch tall and is made in Italy. Finish of this die cast medal is silver oxidized for richness and depth. Attached jump ring is included.
Saint Kateri was born in New York in 1656, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior. Her mother died of smallpox when Kateri was only 4 years old and the disease left Kateri's face scarred and vision impaired for the remainder of her life. It was because of this that she became known as Kateri Tekakwitha (meaning, she who bumps into things).
Nonetheless, Kateri was a loving and kind girl and learned of Christianity as a teenager. Kateri was baptized at the age of 20 and incurred the anger of her tribe when she left traveling by foot and canoe to join a colony of Christian Indians in Canada. Jesuit priests who lived there wrote of how Kateri would wake up early and, even in the bitter cold, wait outside the chapel doors to pray before the Eucharist.
When Kateri, the "Lily of the Mohawks," died at the age of 24, those present said that the deep scars on her face vanished.
Saint Kateri is the patron saint of environmentalists, nature, youth, and outcasts.
