Epitaph
Tekakwitha's grave stone reads:
| “ | Kateri Tekakwitha Ownkeonweke Katsitsiio Teonsitsianekaron |
” |
Because of Tekakwitha's notable path to chastity, she is often referred to as a lily, a traditional symbol of purity among Roman Catholics and one often used for the Virgin Mary. Religious images of Tekakwitha are often decorated with a lily and cross, with feathers or turtle as cultural accessories. Colloquial terms for Tekakwitha are The Lily of the Mohawks (most notable), the Mohawk Maiden, the Pure and Tender Lily, the Flower among True Men, the Lily of Purity and The New Star of the New World. Her tribal neighbors referred to her as "the fairest flower that ever bloomed among the redmen."' Her virtues are considered an ecumenical bridge between Mohawk and European cultures.
Read more about this topic: Kateri Tekakwitha
Famous quotes containing the word epitaph:
“But since Thy loud-tongu’d Blood demands Supplies,
More from BriareusHands, than Argus Eyes,
I’ll tune Thy Elegies to Trumpet-sounds,
And write Thy Epitaph in Blood and Wounds!”
—James Graham Marquess of Montrose (1612–1650)
“Will you see the players well bestowed? Do you hear, let them
be well used, for they are the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time. After your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus, 44:14.
The line “their name liveth for evermore” was chosen by Rudyard Kipling on behalf of the Imperial War Graves Commission as an epitaph to be used in Commonwealth War Cemeteries. Kipling had himself lost a son in the fighting.