“Walking the Good Red Road: Nicholas Black Elk’s Journey to Sainthood,” will air in Louisville on June 14 at 5 p.m. on WHAS 11 TV.
Nicholas Black Elk, an Oglala Lakota, was born around 1865 in the Dakota Territory. He came from a family of medicine men and he continued their work. In 1876, he was in the Battle of Little Big Horn. The following year, he began touring Europe as part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. He returned to the United States in 1889.
Through his interaction with Jesuit priests, Black Elk converted to the Catholic faith and was baptized on Dec. 6, 1904, the feast of St. Nicholas. His cause for canonization was formally opened by the Diocese of Rapid City in 2017.
