A first for the Roman Catholic Church.

Kateri Tekakwitha is North America's first aboriginal saint after a canonization mass at the Vatican.

She was among the seven saints the Pope added to the roster of church role models.

About 15-hundred aboriginal Canadians -- many from a Montreal area Mohawk community -- in traditional dress sang songs of praise as the sun rose over St. Peter's Square.

The young woman, known as the ''Lily of the Mohawks,'' was born in New York state in 1656.

She later fled to a Kahnawake settlement in Canada to escape persecution over her Christian faith.

Tekakwitha was 24 when she died in 1680.

CP

Portrait by Kevin Gordon