PATH TO SAINTHOOD Part 2:The miracles of Kateri Tekakwitha

Kateri Tekakwitha, along with Marianne Cope, will soon become saints in the eyes of the Catholic Church. The path to sainthood, as you might expect, is not an easy one, and Kateri Tekakwitha's came with its own share of roadblocks.

"First of all, they have to get all the information they can about her life from people who knew her or any writings the person may have had," said Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. "And then, in order to be canonized, you need a bona fide miracle. And that was the big hold up for her, because there was only one miracle that we had prior to recently."

At least two miracles are needed in order to become a saint. There were many alleged miracles over the centuries, including healing a young boy with smallpox, restoring a priest's hearing, and others, through possessions once associated with Kateri. It would take until the 20th century before the miracles that would make her sainthood a reality. It began in 1943 then-Pope Pius XII declared that the disappearance of Tekakwitha's smallpox scars at the time of her death was an authentic miracle.

"A few years ago, there was a young man in Seattle, Washington who had been injured in a basketball game and he developed a flesh eating bacteria and the doctors determined that he was terminally ill, was going to die," Bishop Hubbard said. "And they called the priest to give him the last rites and he asked the father, who happened to be a Native American, himself, if the father was willing to have the relic of Kateri Tekakwitha applied to him. It was, and against all medical explanation, he was able to recover and he will be at the canonization."

In December 2011, Pope Benedict XVI approved this second miracle needed for Kateri's canonization, paving the way for her canonization on Sunday, October 21.

PATH TO SAINTHOOD Part 1:The story of Kateri Tekakwitha

On Sunday, October 21, two women from the Mohawk Valley will be officially recognized by the Catholic Church as saints.

One of those women, Kateri Tekakwitha, is not only becoming a saint, but the first Native American saint as well.

Born in 1656 in what is now known as Auriesville, she lost her parents and brother to a smallpox epidemic that ravaged the village when she was only four years old. Adopted by her uncle and aunt, Kateri and her relatives had to move to the other side of the Mohawk River after the French burned down their village, locating in what is now known as Fonda.

"And there she was baptized at the age of 20," said Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of the Albany Diocese. "As a result of the smallpox epidemic, she was severely pock-marked in her face and she lost a great deal of her eye sight, so she was impaired throughout her life. When she converted to christianity, she was rejected by members of her tribe because the Jesuits were associated with the French and they had aligned themselves with the English. And then, also, her family wanted her to marry and she took a vow of virginity. And so, because of the bullying, the threats she was receiving, she had to journey two months by foot from the banks of the Mohawk to the banks of the St. Lawrence River where there was a Christian village. And there she devoted herself to the service of children, the poor and the sick."

Due to the ongoing infirmity created by the smallpox, Kateri died at the tender age of 24. While that was in 1680, her legend was carried on through oral tradition and passed on from tribe to tribe through the Jesuit community.

"In 1882, her cause was introduced by the diocese of Albany and it took until 1943 before she was (declared) a server of God, which is one step on the journey to sainthood," Bishop Hubbard said.

Bishop Hubbard was the one who presented the petition of beatification of Kateri Tekakwitha to Pope John Paul II back in 1980. He, along with a pilgrimage of about 200 people from throughout the Albany Diocese will soon be headed to Rome, Italy to celebrate her canonization on October 21.