Pope Benedict XVI will name 17th century Mohawk Kateri Tekakwitha the first Native American saint.
Another newly named saint is Marianne Cope, a German-born woman who emigrated to the United States as a child, became a nun and went on to devote 30 years of her life helping lepers in Hawaii.
Their canonization, along with that of five other saints, will be celebrated at a special Mass in St. Peter’s Square Sunday morning.
“This is a great weekend for America in the Vatican, and it’s really a great weekend for Native Americans. Sainthood is the guarantee that this person is close to God,” said Vatican senior communications adviser Greg Burke.
“There’s a vast history of people the Catholic Church has made saints over the centuries. Holiness is absolutely a matter of equal opportunity, but this certainly is special because it marks the first time a Native American becomes a saint.”
Kateri Tekakwitha’s canonization follows what has been judged a miracle by the Roman Catholic Church in the 2006 case of an American boy with a flesh-eating bug.
Jake Finkbonner was only 5 when he became infected by the bacterium after falling down while playing basketball, CNN affiliate King 5 News in Seattle reported. The infection spread quickly through the tissue of his face, with drugs and surgeries apparently powerless to stop its progress.
“It was dire,” his mother, Elsa Finkbonner, told the network. “He was air-lifted to children’s hospital, and he was fighting for his life at that point.”
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