Lily of the Mohawks

Today on our way home from Albany, New York we stopped twice in the Mohawk Valley first at the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs at Auriesville, New York. I’ve been stopping here since I was a young boy. My Mom first introduced me to the shrine in the late 1950’s. As I walked around the shrine today I sought the intercession of the St. Kateri Tekakwitha. There are numerous references to Kateri at the shrine and even statuary too. After a bit less than an hour we traveled five and half miles west on Route 5 to the Kateri Shrine which I’ve known about for only about a dozen years. The Kateri Shrine which is maintained by Conventual Franciscan Friars is where the actual birthplace of St. Kateri Tekakwitha was. It is a lovely shrine and decidedly Franciscan. Today the  St. Thomas More Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order were showing a video Kateri’s life. We didn’t stay for the video, but I did manage to meet one of their members.  I spent quite a bit of time walking the grounds and enjoying the surroundings.