Humanities Core * Spring 2005 * Ulrike Strasser

 

Text: Pierre Cholenec, Catherine Tekakwitha: Her Life

 

Reading Questions:

 

Book One:

 

  1. How did Tekakwitha’s mother end up among the Iroquois?

 

 

  1. Who took care of Tekakwitha after she lost her immediate family at age four?

 

 

  1. How does the narrator characterize Tekakwitha as a girl?

 

 

  1. What happens when her aunts try to get her to marry?

 

 

  1. How does Fr. Jacques de Lamberville meet her? Why did he decide to instruct her?

 

 

  1. Why does Lamberville baptize her Catherine?

 

 

  1. Why did Lamberville want Tekakwitha to transfer to the mission of St. Francois Xavier du Sault? How did the French view this mission?

 

 

  1. How does her uncle react to her departure?

 

 

  1. Why does Cholenec, the writer of the biography, take Tekakwitha under his wing?

 

 

  1. With whom does Tekakwitha live?

 

 

Book Two:

 

  1. How does Tekakwitha spend her days at the mission?

 

 

  1. How does Tekakwitha prepare for confession?

 

 

  1. Tekakwitha receives an unusual reward for her piety. Which one? How does she react?

 

 

  1. How does Tekakwitha behave while she is on her first winter hunt with her sister and brother-in-law? Does she like being on the hunt?

 

 

  1. How does Tekakwitha celebrate Easter?

 

 

  1. What does Anastasie talk about while Tekakwitha is scrutinizing her past life for faults and sins?

 

 

  1. Cholenec claims that Anastasie could not give Tekakwitha all she needed and therefore God sent her another companion. How this companion different from Anastasie?

 

 

  1. Before this companion met Tekakwitha she had a conversion experience during a hunt. What happened?

 

 

  1. After she becomes Tekakwitha’s companion and friend, how do the two women spend their time together?

 

 

  1. Why did Tekakwitha’s adopted sister want her to get married? What arguments does she use to persuade Tekakwitha that this is the right thing to do?

 

 

  1. What is Cholenec’s advice for Tekakwitha?

 

 

  1. Why does Tekakwitha not want to get married?

 

 

  1. What does Tekakwitha do when everyone else goes on the next hunt?

 

 

  1. Cholenec was clearly impressed the Iroquois converts performed so many and rather strict penances. What kinds of activities does he describe? Does he approve of every activity?

 

 

  1. What things did the members of the Holy Family do to spread Christianity and reinforce Christian morality?

 

 

  1. What special gift does Cholenec give Tekakwitha?

 

 

  1. What vow did Tekakwitha take on the Feast of the Annunciation?

 

 

  1. Tekakwitha continued her regime of penances but added new form of self-punishments, one at the suggestion of Anastasia, another in imitation of the Jesuit saint Louis de Gonzaga. What were those new self-tortures? Did Cholenec know about them?

 

 

  1. What makes Cholenec think that Tekakwitha has a sensitive conscience?

 

 

  1. Cholenec identified Tekakwitha’s most characteristic virtue. Which one?

 

 

  1. Whom did Tekakwitha choose as her mother?

 

 

  1. What happened to Tekakwitha’s body after her death?

 

 

  1. How do people in the community react to her death?

 

 

Book Three

 

  1. After her death, Tekakwitha healed many people and performed other kinds of miracles. Which different groups of people benefited from her saintly deeds?

 

 

  1. Who is behind the printing and dissemination of Tekakwitha’s story?

 

 

  1. Tekakwitha supposedly worked not only cures of the body but also cures of the soul. What kinds of things did she cure?

 

 

  1. How did Tekakwitha help defend the missionary village against an attack?

 

 

  1. Why did Cholenec write this biography of Tekakwitha?

 

 

Discussion Questions:

  1. Pierre Cholenec, a French Jesuits, viewed and told the story of the Iroquoian woman Catherine Tekakwitha from the perspective of a European Catholic. How does he characterize Tekakwitha and her culture in his narrative? What views of indigenous people does he hold? What does he think of their social and cultural customs? Finally, how does Cholenec describe Tekakwitha’s main character traits, and how do those traits make her different from other indigenous girls?

  2. Even though Pierre Cholenec was a biased observer, he does provide us with information about various Iroquoian customs, social relations and daily life. How much information about the Iroquois are you able to pull out of this text? Here are a few issues to get you started: family and kinship; gender relations; different types of work; attitudes towards Christianity; relationships with the French; sources of suffering for indigenous communities. What other issues and information can you come up with?

  3. What does Cholenec tell us about Tekakwitha’s relationship to her own body? What things does she do to herself? Why does she do them? Is she alone in this pursuit? How do her action compare to those of other Iroquoian Christians? What does Cholenec think about these practices? Is he supportive or critical? And how would you characterize Tekakwitha’s treatment of herself?