Mohawk Saint And The Unredeemed Captive

In 1675, New England sees war breakout between Native American and English forces. Over one half of New England’s towns and settlements are rampaged by Indians, and both sides suffer thousands of casualties. However, through the bloodshed and wreckage, one woman lives to tell the story of her capture by Native Americans. Mary Rowlandson, the lucky survivor, spends eleven weeks in brutal captivity, after being seriously wounded and seeing her own child die in her arms. How she survives her experience is nearly impossible to pinpoint directly, but her devotion to her religion can be tied to her method of survival. Rowlandson’s commitment to her religion equips her with a coping mechanism and keeps her thoughts positive during her

The long history between Native American and Europeans are a strained and bloody one. For the time of Columbus’s subsequent visits to the new world, native culture has

When the first colonists landed in the territories of the new world, they encountered a people and a culture that no European before them had ever seen. As the first of the settlers attempted to survive in a truly foreign part of the world, their written accounts would soon become popular with those curious of this “new” world, and those who already lived and survived in this seemingly inhospitable environment, Native American Indian. Through these personal accounts, the Native Indian soon became cemented in the American narrative, playing an important role in much of the literature of the era. As one would expect though, the representation of the Native Americans and their relationship with European Americans varies in the written works of the people of the time, with the defining difference in these works being the motives behind the writing. These differences and similarities can be seen in two similar works from two rather different authors, John Smith, and Mary Rowlandson.

In 1800’s following the American Revolution, the new American Government and the indigenous Native American people had to learn how to coexist. In order to successful work with together, there was a need for translators and mediators. One of these mediators was named Red Jacket, a chief and orator for the Seneca Tribe in New York. For his leadership and efforts in maintaining peace, Red Jacket was recognized by President George Washington. In 1805, the U.S government sought to proselytize, convert the Native Americans to Christianity, the Seneca tribe which was met by opposition from Red Jacket and his people. In the speech, Red Jacket Defends Native American Religion, 1805, Red Jacket builds an argument to persuade his

The Indigenous people of America are called Native Americans or often referred to as “Indians”. They make up about two percent of the population in the United States and some of them still live in reservations. They once lived freely in the wilderness without any sort of influence or exposure from the Europeans who later came in the year of 1492, and therefore their culture is very different from ours. The Iroquois are northeastern Native Americans who are historically important and powerful. In the following essay we will discover some differences between the religious beliefs of the Native American Iroquois and Christianity to see if culture and ways of living have an effect on the view of religion, but we will also get to know some similarities. I am going to be focusing on the Iroquois, which are the northeastern Native Americans in North America.

That is not to say that native groups did not utilize the tools around them to optimize their ability to have access to some means of autonomy, be that on a personal or a societal level. Native individuals utilized Christianity when they were taken to court, as seen in Plimouth through Isaac and Betty. There was an even more effective use of the system at a societal level, typically through the recruitment of missionaries, and using Bible scriptures in petitions and other legal documents was the most common form of appealing to the religious legal system. There is also the vital aspect of unity in Massachusetts that Christianity brought to the native community, even if all did not believe, they were forced into practicing, and as a condition of that found solidarity with other native groups that enabled numbers that forced colonizers to listen to them, as seen through the Mittark’s Will. Religion was also vital for the fur trade in new French colonies, allowing native women to act as converts and mediators to between the colonizers and the native groups they hailed from. This conversion to Catholicism was also vital to native women in creating a system of sustainable survival without their native past or their colonizers after their husband’s death. This is a few of the specific examples as to how native Americans used the Christian faith to better their position in this system. It was effective in the context of gaining them rights and land that they would not have had without it, it was useful but it did not solve for colonizer violence against these

Catherine sought Christ's hand in marriage and appealed to the Virgin Mary to grant her this connection. She prayed, “O most blessed and holy virgin…I pray to you that out of your ineffable goodness…you'll deign to grant me this great grace ¾ to give me as a Husband Him whom I desire with all the power of my soul, your most holy son, our one Lord Jesus Christ; and I promise Him and you that I will never choose myself any other husband, and will always do all I can to keep my virginity unspotted.” (qtd. in Raymond of Capua 31). In order to preserve her virginity, she once wished to take the habit of the Order of the Preaching Friars based on a story she once heard about a woman pretending to be a man and becoming a monk in order to avoid marriage (Gardner 5).

Just as the Greeks, the Romans and any other great civilization, Native Americans had their own gods with certain values. These values are a sharp contrast to the current european expansionist mindset and give great insight into understanding Native American’s actions and behavior. These documents are about Native American culture and are written around the arrival of European settlers. These documents show the conflicts that many Native Americans had were due to many miscommunications and conflicts in values. The two Native American values that the Europeans most tread on were their very philosophy and honor, which leads to some of the most brutal acts of war and massacres.

When Jesus Came, The Corn Mothers Went Away gives an in-depth history of the Pueblo Indians before and after the Spanish conquest. It describes the forced changes the Spanish brought to the Indians, and also the changes brought to the Spaniards who came to “civilize” the Indians. The author's thesis is that the Pueblo Indians and other Indians were treated cruelly by the Spanish, who justified their crime by claiming they were civilizing an

In Seneca Chief Red Jacket’s Address to White Missionaries and Iroquois Six Nations, Red Jacket delivers a speed in Buffalo Grove, New York in 1805, regarding his tribe’s view on religion. For instance, when giving an anecdote on the history of his ancestors, he states, “Our seats were once large, and yours very small. You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets, You have got our country, but you are not satisfied; you want to force your religion upon us.” which evokes pity to listeners by telling how the Christian whites stole the land from the Native Americans who had fed them and clothed them only to be returned with nothing but the loss of their homeland (Red Jacket 2). Expressing a contradiction of the treatments, Red Jacket conveys the moral question of whether it was right of Europeans to treat their Native hosts in such a tactless manner. There is no greater sorrow on earth than the loss of one’s native land and Red Jacket expresses that emotion of sorrow by claiming that his people could not even find a place to put their blankets as their land was not in their possession anymore. In addition, whites felt entitled to convert the native americans to the ways of Christ by

Religion and spirituality have been complex issues in the United States of America. This is especially true when it comes to Native Americans. Since the 16th century, contact between Native Americans and Europeans has been filled with both good and bad. In this paper, the issue of religion and spirituality and how they figure into the story of Indian-European contact between the 16th and 21st centuries will be discussed.

In Samson Occom’s collective writings, Occom uses his religious convictions to explain a certain liberation that spirituality can provide Native Americans in an age of tension with white colonists. Occom’s specific teachings of the contemporary Calvinist interpretations of Christianity provide an outlet through which Native Americans can both embrace their native cultures and seek redemption through what Occom believes is the only true path to salvation. Additionally, Occom, through his connections with white colonists, attempts to provide a sense of political liberation to Native Americans by giving them the same educational opportunities. Overall, Occom’s religiosity manifests itself in a way that both attempts to free Native Americans, while also often yielding conflict with the white Calvinists with which Occom interacts.

Tekakwitha’s biographers paint her in a completely pious life. She maintained perpetual virginity, renounced any intention of marrying, was adept at acts of self-immolation when repenting, and above all was a quiet and “behind-the-scenes” kind of woman. “As a child, the Jesuits relate, Catherine was shy, retiring, and good-natured […] [and this] led her to shun social gatherings” (Greer 32). Apparently, a degree of social introversion and slightly abnormal behaviour are important criterion for an individual who is being evaluated for canonization. It is no doubt that Chauchetière and Cholenec see Catherine as fitting enough to analyze for this position of possible sainthood, but they actually do a disservice by not being completely accurate. In reality, according to Greer, Catherine was much more involved in her Mohawk community. This is an aspect where Greer’s account shines. He argues that the idea of Tekakwitha having the behaviour of an outcast seems “implausible” due to conflicting reports from many other Europeans (32). Women in the Mohawk community were “regard[ed] as the principal support of their families” but Greer goes on to explain that in earlier accounts, the Jesuits only mention Tekakwitha’s female relatives in passing, which is essentially problematic when historical accuracy is of such importance in hagiography (32-33).

On weekdays, besides daily prayers, catechism was taught to the children, and after supper a half hour’s reading from The Lives of the Saints, usually in the general’s cabin” (O’Brien, 247). The ship reached Quebec in June and Garnier led a procession to church. When an illness struck the village, the Jesuits took care of the ill even though medicine was not available during this time. They prepared broth for the sick ones and even tried to feed the ill raisins and prunes (O’Brien, 252). After taking care of the ill Hurons, Garnier and some of the Fathers contracted the illness. When the Indians heard that the Fathers were ill, they hurriedly went into the cabins to see how these men would drive out the evil spirits (O’Brien, 252). By mid-October,

It seems as though Greer connected Catherine Tekakwitha to both Catholic and Mohawk in difference senses. Allan Greer makes the cross reference between two separate cultures established in her life story as well as her religious beliefs. This story starts tragically when Catherine, also known as Tekakwitha; her Mohawk name was orphaned at the age of six when both parents died from smallpox, Catherine was left with scares on her face and impaired eyesight, she survived the smallpox epidemic but not long after died at the age of twenty-four. After her death, the French and indigenous Catholics prayed for her. Although she was baptized in her home village by a Jesuit priest, she was born in the Mohawk Valley Village of Gandaouague.