An American woman from Alaska was proclaimed the first Orthodox saint from the North American continent

"I thought of her only as my mother," said Olga's daughter Helen Larson, who attended the ceremony a week ago, along with her many other children and grandchildren, news outlets reported.

As she added, she now realized that Olga was not only her mother, but someone that helped everyone.

Until now, canonized saints of the Orthodox Church in North America have been men, so the canonization of St. Olga, a member of the indigenous Yup'ik people, is extremely significant.

"The church is often seen as a hierarchical and patriarchal institution," said Metropolitan Tikhon, head of the Orthodox Church in America, adding that the canonization of women like St. Olga is a reminder that the path to holiness is available to all.

The professor of religion and culture at the University of Western Washington, Carrie Frederic Frost, pointed out that this canonization is all the more important because until now, canonized women were martyrs or priestesses from ancient times.

As Frost pointed out, Olga was an ordinary woman who lived like many others. She was a mother and a grandmother.

Foto: AP/Diocese of Sitka and Alaska

Olga Michael, the mother of 13 children, was a midwife and the wife of an Orthodox priest, and many called her a "mother", or spiritual mother.

She became known in church communities across Alaska for her quiet generosity and compassion, especially as she comforted numerous women who had miscarried or suffered abuse and trauma, the AP reported.

She experienced great pain herself, having lost five children who did not reach adulthood.

Olga died in 1979, at the age of 63, from cancer, and after her death, word spread about her. Many believers saw her in their dreams, even those who live far from Alaska, the American agency stated.

Hundreds of people from many places came to the village of Kwethluk, which has 800 inhabitants, to witness the canonization of Olga, hailing her as a "healer and comforter of all those whose hearts and souls are wounded."

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