Long before Kateri Tekakwitha, an Algonquin–Mohawk woman, was canonized this week,1 Leonard Cohen was fascinated with her story, featuring her in his 1966 novel, “Beautiful Losers.” She also appears in at least three representations in his Montreal home.
In the image atop this post, Leonard Cohen is seen beside a figurine of Kateri Tekakwitha, which stands on a shelf in a bookcase. The image is a screen capture from a 2006 NRK Montreal Interview with Leonard Cohen: Leonard Cohen On His Poems, Zen, Hallelujah, His 6 Good Songs, Money, America, And The Squirrel.
In the image below, another screen capture from the same interview video, Cohen is shown beside a color picture of Kateri Tekakwitha (upper right corner).
That same picture of Kateri Tekakwitha can be seen below in a screen capture from a portion of Adam Cohen’s “Like A Man” EPK filmed in the same room of his father’s Montreal home. In addition, a second picture of Kateri Tekakwitha can be seen hanging on the wall over Adam’s right shoulder.
Related Post: Leonard Cohen And The Duchess Admire Each Other’s Unified Heart & Saint Kateri Jewelry
Note: Originally posted Oct 23, 2012 at 1HeckOfAGuy.com, a predecessor of Cohencentric
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- “This week” refers to date of posting; Kateri Tekakwitha was canonized October 21, 2012 in Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI [↩]
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Love that photo of Leonard. And gave me a flashback to being with my supercool Jewish grandmother Minna, who had ‘special requested’ Beautiful Losers’ from our tiny local public library(which was originally in a small room in the primary school…..I have a lovely memory of her taking me to join the library when I was four – a year early, wee smarty pants that I was – and standing holding her hand, looking up at her.
Thank you for bringing that all back to me, Allan….it was wonderful to visit it again in my mind and heart
Alex