(1656-1680) Saint Kateri, “Lily of the Mohawks,” was born to a Christian Algonquin mother and a pagan Mohawk chief father in Auriesville, New York. She was orphaned during a smallpox outbreak that also scarred her face and impaired her vision. Kateri was converted by Jesuit missionaries and was abused and ostracized by her tribe for her faith and for refusing an arranged marriage. She was baptised at 18 and fled through 200 miles of wilderness to a Christian village near Montreal, Quebec, where she died at age 24. She was known for her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, as a person of deep prayer, and as a miracle worker.

Kateri had an intense faith from the first moments of learning about Jesus. When her village was declining in morals, she chose life in Christ. She “came to believe that a Power greater than [herself] could restore [her] to sanity” (Step 2).

“Kateri impresses us by the action of grace in her life in spite of the absence of external help and by the courage of her vocation, so unusual in her culture. In her, faith and culture enrich each other! May her example help us to live where we are, loving Jesus without denying who we are” (Pope Benedict XVI, canonization homily on October 12th, 2012).

(1550-1614) Saint Camillus was an Italian army officer with a serious gambling addiction. Eventually, he went to Rome for treatment of a leg injury, became a student, and had Saint Philip Neri as his confessor. Camillus became a priest and founded the Congregation of the Servants of the Sick (the Camillians or Fathers of a Good Death) that cared for the sick at home and in hospitals. He honoured the sick as living images of Christ, and hoped that the service he gave them did penance for his wayward youth. Saint Camillus was reported to have the gifts of miraculous healing and prophecy.

Saint Camillus had the drive to make up for where he went wrong in his youth. Recovery can give us the same drive. We can make service and give back as a prayer of amends for our past. You don’t have to be formally working a Step 9 or Step 12 to do right by others.

“Brother, if you commit a sin and take pleasure in it, the pleasure passes but the sin remains. But if you do something virtuous, even though you are tired, the tiredness passes but the virtue remains” (Saint Camillus de Lellis).

Reflection by Brad Farmer