[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 128 (Thursday, September 20, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S6539]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CANONIZATION OF BL. KATERI TEKAKWITHA AND BL. MARIANNE COPE

 Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, today I wish to honor the 
contribution of two great heroes, Kateri Tekakwitha and Marianne Cope. 
These two individuals from upstate New York worked tirelessly during 
their lifetimes to bring faith and health to every soul they touched. 
Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha and Bl. Marianne Cope have served as an 
inspiration for generations of the faithful both in America and abroad, 
and are now being recognized with the highest honor of sainthood.
  Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 to a Mohawk father and 
Algonquin mother along the Mohawk River in upstate New York. After 
surviving a devastating smallpox epidemic, Kateri was introduced to 
Christianity by Catholic missionaries. Despite severe disapproval by 
her tribe, Kateri was baptized into the church as Catherine and lived 
the rest of her life caring for the sick and elderly in the Mohawk 
River region. She is informally known as Lily of the Mohawks and will 
become the patron saint of ecology, the environment, and Native 
Americans. Although she died young, Kateri's reputation as the first 
Native American saint will live forever. Her commitment to the 
Christian faith has served as an inspiration not only to Native 
American Catholics, but to all American Catholics.
  The other beatified person, Bl. Marianne Cope, was a member of the 
Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse after growing up in Utica, NY. As 
the eldest daughter of German immigrants, she worked in a factory to 
support her family and delayed answering her religious calling until 
her siblings were self-sufficient. Once she was able to commit to the 
church, Marianne dedicated her work to establishing a series of 
hospitals, both public and Catholic, in Syracuse and central New York. 
These hospitals were some of the first to treat patients regardless of 
race, religion, or nationality. Marianne was also one of the first 
hospital administrators to advocate for patients' rights and to accept 
medical students for clinical instruction. In 1883, she moved to Hawaii 
to care for those with leprosy, a task that was declined by many other 
religious groups. Throughout her time in Hawaii she remained a 
dedicated caretaker and symbol of hope to patients who had been exiled 
because of their illness.
  These two extraordinary women will be declared saints on October 21 
in Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square, marking the 
end of a long process of examination undergone by all candidates for 
sainthood. The ceremony will venerate Kateri and Marianne in the eyes 
of Catholics all over the world.
  I would like the U.S. Senate to honor Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha and Bl. 
Marianne Cope and recognize their unparalleled commitment to faith and 
their unending sacrifices for the people most in need across New York 
and our Nation.

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