Marie Spry of Grand Portage was among a group of Native Americans from the Duluth Diocese who traveled to Rome to attend the canonization of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. The group is pictured here on the roof of the North American College where seminarians from the United States attend classes. (L-R) Sonny Peacock from Fond Du Lac, Sister Marie Rose Messingschager from the Dioceses of Duluth, Claudia Lyytinen of Ball Club, Marie Spry, Alicia Cyr of Duluth and Bishop Sirba.
Marie Spry of Grand Portage is a trustee—and a faithful member—of the Holy Rosary Church in Grand Portage. In 2009, she had the honor of participating in the ordination of Bishop Paul Sirba at a ceremony at the DECC Auditorium in Duluth, offering gifts of bread and wine with other members of the Native American community within the diocese. Spry was incredibly moved by that experience and didn’t think anything could top that—until she received a call from Father Seamus Walsh telling her she had been invited to attend the canonization of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha—in Rome.
Spry couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make the trip, made possible by the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions and the Diocese of Duluth. “I never thought something like this would happen,” said Spry to the Cook County News-Herald. “It was unbelievable.”
Spry, along with Sonny Peacock from Fond du Lac, Sister Marie Rose Messingschager from the Diocese of Duluth, Claudia Lyytinen of Ball Club, Alicia Cyr of Duluth and Bishop Sirba made the trip.
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, 1656-1680, is the first Native American to be canonized into sainthood. She was an Algonquin and Iroquois woman formally known as “The Lily of the Mohawks.”
The canonization took place at the Vatican on October 21 with the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, officiating. The ceremony was outdoors in the holy city with over 200,000 people attending. At one point, Spry said she was about 10 feet from Pope Benedict XVI.
“It was a dream come true for me,” said Spry.
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