AMSTERDAM, N.Y. – There is an official blessing of a statue dedicated to newly canonized Saint Kateri Tekakwitha today. The statue is at Saint Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam.

Kateri was officially recognized as a saint this past weekend in Vatican City.

She was born in Auriesville, New York in 1656. She was a Native American who followed Catholicism at an early age, and eventually fled to Canada after years of scrutiny from her tribe because of her Christian faith.

She died at age 23 in 1680, and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980.