Josephine
Crowfeather was born to the Hunkpapa chief, Joseph Crowfeather,
near the Standing Rock Agency in the Dakota Territory
(now North Dakota), in 1867. Her father carried her into
battle for protection as a newborn, and when they both
returned unharmed, she was given the name Ptesanwanyakapi
- "They see a white buffalo woman". From that
time forward, she was regarded by her people as a sacred
virgin.
While very young, Crowfeather dreamed of carrying on the
work of Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Mohawk nun, in working
to establish a Native Christian sisterhood. She went to
the Benedictine Sisters' School in North Dakota for 4
years, and was able to study to become a Sister with an
Iroquois Catholic priest who shared her vision of fulfilling
the work of The Lily of the Mohawk - Kateri. With 5 other
Sioux women, she attended the Benedictine academy in Minnesota,
and went on to take her vows in 1890.
Her
first assignment at a mission school in South Dakota did
not go well due to internal disharmony within the noviate,
and her group of Sisters was transferred to a new convent
on the Ft. Berthold Reservation. This community of Sisters
followed the Benedictine disciplines and became known
as The Congregation of American Sisters. The year after
establishing this group, Crowfeather was elected founding
prioress-general and was given the title of "Mother".
She was now known as Mother Mary Catherine, and with her
group, worked among the Arickara, Gros Ventre and Mandan
teaching English, caring for the sick and carrying on
their missionary work.
Crowfeather
died of tuberculosis at the age of 26, in 1893. The community
she had founded survived for an additional 7 years after
her death, and did grow to a total of 12 members. The
determination to pave the way for an order of Native Sisters
in the face of continuing poverty, illness and racism
on every front has served as an inspiration through the
years to all those who share this calling.
See Woman Spirit by Julia White
And
some more .... Quote:
When the Europeans first discovered America, some of
the first immigrants of the area were missionaries who
came to spread the word of God to the native inhabitants.
While the Catholic priests and missionaries were more
prominent in the southern part of the United States
and into Mexico, missionaries were active among the
natives on the Northern plains. Their efforts included
not only converting the Native Americans to Christianity,
but also establishing monasteries for the men and women.
On this day in 1889, the New York Freeman’s Journal
and Catholic Register reported on Josephine Crowfeather
as the first full-blood Sioux to enter the Benedictine
Novitiate.
The
idea of Native American sisters working among their
people was one held by many, but it was Father Francis
Craft who put these ideas into practice. Craft began
his missionary work at Rosebud in 1883 and later moved
to Standing Rock in 1885. He found during his work that
many young Native women had already joined Catholic
sisterhoods and several young men were studying for
priesthood. Craft helped encourage three women to take
their vows. Among them was Josephine Crowfeather.
Josephine
was regarded as sacred in her tribe because of her Indian
name’s reference to the White Buffalo Woman, a sacred
symbol in Indian mythology. Her desire to become a sister
only seemed fitting and she asked Craft’s help in joining
a sisterhood. Josephine and five other young Indian
women attended the St. Francis Xavier Academy in Minnesota
to study the faith. Crowfeather, however, did not stay
long and accompanied Craft to Zell where she entered
the Benedictine Novitiate.
Craft
expected that Josephine would produce a religious effect
among her tribe, and he had plans for her to help with
a mission at Fort Berthold. She and Craft, however,
ran into problems. Craft met much resistance in forming
an all-native clergy and felt Josephine was being persecuted.
“If the missionaries remain mostly at home, and teach
school, and expect Indian families to come to them,
they will fail. Missionaries must do their work in the
Indian homes and families. … If they cannot or will
not, they must provide a native clergy who can and will.
… If we cannot at once have native clergy, we can have
native catechists. … The only thing in the way of this
is the vile and unCatholic race prejudice that has hitherto
been the cause of nearly all (and perhaps all) our mission
troubles and failure.”
The
native sisters did face difficulties in the Benedictine
sisterhoods, especially as feuds rose between the Swiss
and American sisters. This feud and lack of respect
led Craft to take the native sisters to Fort Berthold
to begin their own clergy. Still, problems arose. According
to Josephine, “I don’t know if we will be allowed to
go on. Everyone seems to want to stop us because we
are Indians. I hope God will help us.” Meanwhile Josephine
grew ill and on May 2, 1893, she died.
Josephine’s
death was a major blow to the order, and Craft tried
to carry on, but the mission was already crumbling.
Things quickly deteriorated and Craft renounced his
affiliation with the Catholic Church. Many of the sisters
left the sisterhood and either married or joined another
sisterhood. Craft and his remaining sisters left for
Cuba to help nurses in the Spanish-American War.
Following the war, only two sisters remained in Craft’s
order, both left him shortly and married, ending Craft’s
dream of having Indian sisters work among their own
people in the Dakotas.
By
Tessa Sandstrom
Source
-
Sister Mary Ewens, “The Native Order: A Brief and Strange
History.” Scattered Steeples Expanded: A Tribute to
the Church in North Dakota. Ed. Fr. William Sherman,
Fr. Leo Stelten, Jerome Lamb, Jerry Ruff. University of
Mary Press: Bismarck, 2006: 42-61.
—
liverpoolannie
|