Pope To Name First Native American Saint

A woman who survived smallpox as a child and died at just 24 is to become the first Native American saint.

Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 and is known as Lily of the Mohawks.

She lived in an area that is now on the border between the United States and Canada and is worshipped by believers in native religions as well as Catholics.

Tekakwitha, who had an Algonquin mother and a Mohawk father, was converted by Jesuit missionaries as a child.

A wooden statue of Tekakwitha at St Peter's Chapel in Fonda, New York

After surviving smallpox and being orphaned, she earned a following for her spiritualism before dying at 24.

She will be canonised in St Peter's Basilica on Sunday at a lavish ceremony that follows her beatification in 1980 by Pope John Paul II.

At least 1,500 Canadian pilgrims - many of them American Indians - are expected to attend.

Pope Benedict will name six other new saints including a French missionary to Madagascar, a Philippine martyred at the age of 17, a German migrant to the United States who took care of lepers and a Spanish nun who campaigned for women's rights.

Tekakwitha will be canonised by Pope Benedict on Sunday

Vatican watchers said the choice to name these particular saints now was linked to the Roman Catholic Church's efforts to highlight the need for a "new evangelisation" as church pews in Europe and the United States empty out.

The new canonisations will bring to 44 the number of saints named by the pope since the start of his pontificate in 2005.

Catholic saints must have two miracles to their names which have to be certified by the Vatican in a years-long procedure.

The canonisations come amid a synod of 262 bishops from around the world.

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