On July 14, David Ricken, bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay, celebrated the feast day of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, who has a local camp named in her honor.

“On this memorial of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, I give thanks to God for Camp Tekakwitha here in the @GreenBayDiocese,” the bishop posted on Twitter. “They do a great job here in the summertime of building up young disciples to embrace the life and plan Jesus has for them! St. Kateri, pray for us!” 

St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 in a Mohawk village, a report from Catholic.org said. She was the daughter of an Algonquin woman and a Mohawk chief. When she was young, her whole family died during a smallpox outbreak, so she was raised by an uncle. She converted to Catholicism at age 19 and often prayed for the conversion of her fellow Mohawks. She took the name Kateri in honor of St. Catherine of Siena. 

Some Native Americans disliked and distrusted Kateri because of her conversion, so on the advice of a priest she ran away from her village, walking 200 miles to a Christian community near Montreal; Franciscan Media said. Once there, she dedicated her life to praying and fasting.

Kateri's decision to take a vow of virginity at age 23 was rare among Native American women because their futures usually depended on marriage, Franciscan Media said. When she passed away at age 24, witnesses said that her smallpox scars were erased and her face looked like that of a healthy child.

St. Kateri, also known as the Lily of the Mohawks, was the first Native American to be honored as a Catholic saint; Britannica said. Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1980, and Pope Benedict XVI canonized her in 2012. She is the patron saint of indigenous Americans, and her feast day is celebrated each year on July 14.