Kateri Tekakwitha dies at the Kahnawake mission.
After years of severe fasting and self-flagellation, Mohawk nun Kateri Tekakwitha dies during Holy Week, at the age of 24. Against the wishes of her relatives, Tekakwitha converted to Catholicism in 1676. Her devotion to her new religion bred such contempt in her people that, fearing for her life, she soon had to flee from her home village and seek refuge at the mission in Kahnawake, a settlement of Christian Mohawk. During her lifetime, the Jesuits at the mission were disturbed by Tekakwitha’s penchant for self-torture, but after her death they will celebrate her devoutness as a model for other Indian converts. Through the lobbying of the Jesuits, in the 20th century Tekakwitha will be declared venerable and blessed by the Roman
Catholic Church (see entries for 1939; MAY 19, 1939; and JUNE 22, 1980).
A war leader named Pope unifies the Pueblo in a carefully planned rebellion against the Spaniards in their territory. Before attacking the Europeans, the rebels tell the Spanish to leave. The Pueblo allow settlers who do so voluntarily to escape with their lives, but the Indians seize all of their property. As the northern Pueblo attack the Spanish capital of Santa Fe, the Hopi, Acoma, and Zuni set upon the settlers and missionaries near their villages. During the conflict, about 400 Spaniards are killed. The rebels also set the Spaniards’ churches and houses on fire and destroy every object the Pueblo identify as Spanish.
“[Pope proclaimed] that we should burn all the images and temples, rosaries and cross and that all the people should discard the names given them in holy baptism. . . . [We] were not to mention in any manner the name of God, of the. . .Virgin, or of the Saints. . . [and were] not to teach the Castilian language in any pueblo and to burn the seeds which the Spaniards sowed and to plant only [corn] and beans, which are the crops of our ancestors.”
—Tesuque Indian Juan on the Pueblo Revolt of 1680
Although Pope’s revolt is the most successful Indian uprising ever staged, the Pueblo’s unification does not last long. Pope alienates many of his followers by his tyrannical prohibition against all things Spanish, including new crops that the Pueblo have come to rely upon. The Pueblo soon divide into pro-Pope and anti-Pope factions.
World History
