Alessandra Tarantino and Andrew Medichini, Associated Press

VATICAN CITY – Kateri Tekakwitha, a woman credited with life-saving miracles, has become the first aboriginal who lived in what is now Canadian territory to become a saint after a canonization mass at the Vatican.
   Tekakwitha was among the seven saints Pope Benedict added to the roster of Catholic role models on Sunday as he tries to rekindle the faith in places where it’s lagging.
   Aboriginal Canadians and Americans in traditional dress sang songs to Tekakwitha as the sun rose over St. Peter’s Square.
   They joined pilgrims from around the world at the mass and cheered when Benedict, in Latin, declared each of the seven new saints worthy of veneration by the church.
   In his homily, Benedict praised the seven new saints as examples for the entire church.

VATICAN CITY – Kateri Tekakwitha, a woman credited with life-saving miracles, has become the first aboriginal who lived in what is now Canadian territory to become a saint after a canonization mass at the Vatican.
   Tekakwitha was among the seven saints Pope Benedict added to the roster of Catholic role models on Sunday as he tries to rekindle the faith in places where it’s lagging.
   Aboriginal Canadians and Americans in traditional dress sang songs to Tekakwitha as the sun rose over St. Peter’s Square.
   They joined pilgrims from around the world at the mass and cheered when Benedict, in Latin, declared each of the seven new saints worthy of veneration by the church.
   In his homily, Benedict praised the seven new saints as examples for the entire church.
   “With heroic courage they spent their lives in total consecration to the Lord and in the generous service of their brethren,” he said.
   Speaking in English and French, in honour of Tekakwitha’s Canadian ties, Benedict noted how unusual it was in Tekakwitha’s culture for her to choose to devote herself to her Catholic faith.
   “May her example help us to live where we are, loving Jesus without denying who we are,” he said. “Saint Kateri, protectress of Canada and the first native American saint, we entrust you to the renewal of the faith in the first nations and in all of North America!”
   Tekakwitha, who is also known as “Lily of the Mohawks,” was born in New York state in 1656 before fleeing to a settlement north of the border to escape opposition to her Christianity. She died in 1680 at age 24.
   Tekakwitha joins Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican, as aboriginals from North America who have become saints. Diego was canonized by Pope John Paul in 2002.
   Tekakwitha’s body is entombed in a marble shrine at St. Francis-Xavier Church in Kahnawake, a Montreal-area Mohawk community that was well represented among the 1,500 Canadian pilgrims set to attend the celebrations.
   On Sunday, hundreds of people, many in traditional dress, packed a school in Kahnawake to watch a rebroadcast of the canonization. There was a roar of applause when the Pope declared Tekakwitha a saint.
   People said Tekakwitha was an inspirational figure because of the way she clung to her faith. One woman from Kamloops, said she named her child after Tekakwitha. Events planned for the day include a procession to Tekakwitha’s tomb.
   The process for her canonization began in the 1880s. Tekakwitha was eventually beatified by Pope John Paul in 1980.
   According to a longtime deacon at the Kahnawake reserve, an event six years ago is widely viewed as the miracle that sealed Tekakwitha’s canonization.
   The case involved 6-year-old Jake Finkbonner, who belongs to the Lummi tribe in Washington, said Ron Boyer, who was appointed by the Vatican in 2007 to help make the case for the canonization.
   Finkbonner was knocked over while playing basketball, striking his lip on a post. The boy developed a high fever that landed him in an intensive-care unit, where doctors determined he had a flesh-eating disease.
   The deacon said Sister Kateri Mitchell, a Mohawk from the Akwesasne reserve, happened to be visiting the area and was summoned by the family. She had a bone relic of Tekakwitha, which was held to Finkbonner’s chest as his family prayed. According to Boyer, at that point the infection stopped spreading and began to heal.