New York Is a State of Saints

New Yorkers may seem hardened and cynical, but they can still take notice of miracles within their borders. Hence, their pride in having two new saints to their claim. The first, Kateri Tekakwitha, known as “the Lily of the Mohawks,” lived her faith in the area of Amsterdam, a relatively short distance from the state capital, Albany. She did so despite fierce opposition from her tribe and died in 1680. The other, Mother Marianne Cope, a member of the Syracuse Franciscan nuns, gave her life to helping the poor, especially those outcasts with Hansen’s disease, on a leper colony on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. She died in 1918. Both will be canonized October 21 by Pope Benedict XVI. From the Empire State’s perspective, this gives New York State “pride of ownership’ of seven of the 12 formally acknowledged saints in the United States.

Saints in the state were heralded in The New York Times last Saturday in an informative article by Times editorial writer Lawrence Downes.