Travel – St. Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine & Historic Site

The St. Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine & Historic Site is located on State Rt. 5 in Fonda, New York, deep in the heart of the Mohawk Valley. This is the home of St. Kateri Tekakwitha who lived here from 1666-1676 before moving north to New France, now known as Quebec, Canada. The Mohawk village of Caughnawaga (“on the rapids”) brought its name with them when they moved north in earlier years. While the meaning is the same, it is spelled differently, taking on the Mohawk language’s characteristics rather than the English or French: Kahnawake.

Here, the shrine in Fonda was established in 1938 as the Fonda Memorial of Catherine Tekakwitha and operates under the Order of Franciscan Friars Minor Conventual. It has long been a place of pilgrimage. Fr. Thomas Grassman, OFM was integral in developing the shrine land and excavating the village of Caughnawaga, which remains the only fully excavated Iroquois village in the world.

The shrine grounds are open year round from dawn to dusk, and the trails have a difficulty range for all ages. The Candle Chapel is also open year round for prayer and meditation. The other buildings are open in the spring, and will be available through their last mass in late October or the first weekend in November.

On the grounds you will find the Native American museum and St. Peter’s Chapel housed in what was once the Veeder Family Barn, the Maximilian Kolbe Pavilion where most of their masses take place on Saturday at 4:30pm and Sunday at 10:30am in the warmer seasons. There is a peace grove, Grassman Hall (only opened for specific events), the candle chapel, the Caughnawaga Village Site, and Kateri Spring in addition to hiking trails. Public bathrooms are closed in the winter and the gift shop is by appointment only.

This weekend, however, everything is open and available in celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Weekend. The Mohawk Choir from Akwesasne will be in attendance for both masses, and Albany Diocese Bishop Mark O’Connell will be presiding at the Sunday mass.

Saturday welcomes Jon Sweeney at 2pm for a lecture and book signing for his book, Nicholas Black Elk and Francis of Assisi and on Sunday at 1pm, archives assistant Nathan Turkowsky lectures on “The Waters of Creation: Baptism and Haudenosaunee Cosmology.” This is a perfect way to commemorate St. Kateri’s 350th anniversary of her baptism on these very grounds!