Feast of Paul Mazakute (May 12)

Above:  Paul Mazakute, Circa 1870

Photographer = Stanley J. Morrow

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ds-09322

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PAUL MAZAKUTE (JUNE 1842-MAY 12, 1873)

First Sioux Episcopal Priest

As our saint wrote near the end of his life, he was the only member of his family to become a Christian.  He, born in Minnesota in June 1842, was a son of Maypiyakakapan (his father) and Wakakoyakewin (his mother).  Our saint, converted to Christianity in 1862, accepted baptism and became an Episcopalian and a catechist that year.  Furthermore, Mayakute remained with his people at Fort Snelling (in Minnesota) in 1862 then stayed with them in what is now South Dakota.

Mazakute married Margaret (Maggie) Panna Hoffman.  By Mazakute’s account, the couple had five children:

1. Mark Hepanna (1864-1884/1885),
2. Simon (1866-1884),
3. Rebecca (b. 1868),
4. Joshua (1871-1892), and
5. David (b. 1873).

Our saint spent much time in the East in 1868 and 1869.  He, ordained a deacon in 1868, joined the ranks of priests in 1869.  Mazakute became the first Sioux ordained to the Anglican/Episcopal priesthood.  He was the second indigenous priest in The Episcopal Church; Enmegahbowh (1807/1813-1902), from the Ojibwa Nation, became the first indigenous priest in The Episcopal Church in 1867.  The first member of one of the First Nations ordained in the Anglican tradition was Sakachuwescum/Henry Budd (circa 1812-1875), a member of the Cree Nation in Canada, ordained to the priesthood in 1850.

Mazakute as a priest and a missionary, built three churches, baptized sixty-four people, and presided over four weddings in about four years.  He ministered at Yankton, White Swan, and Choteau Creek (all in what is now South Dakota) and at Santee, Nebraska.  Our saint damaged his health in doing so.  He, ill for the last year of and three months of his life, had weak lungs.  Mazakute, thirty years old, died at Santee on May 12, 1873.

Maggie remarried in 1876.  She married Benjamin Makoahomnikudan Whipple.  The couple had five children.  Maggie died in 1903.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 28, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JAMES SOLOMON RUSSELL, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, EDUCATOR, AND ADVOCATE FOR RACIAL EQUALITY

THE FEAST OF SAINT GUNTRAM OF BURGUNDY, KING

THE FEAST OF KATHARINE LEE BATES, U.S. EDUCATOR, POET, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF RICHARD CHEVENIX TRENCH, ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN

THE FEAST OF SAINT TUTILO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND COMPOSER

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Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servant Paul Mazakute,

whom your called to preach the Gospel to the Sioux.

Raise up in this and every land evangelists and heralds of your kingdom,

that your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Isaiah 52:7-10

Psalm 96 or 96:1-7

Acts 1:1-9

Luke 10:1-9

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 716

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