Alaska Native woman, 'everybody's helper,' is Orthodox church's first female North American saint
Associated Press
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This image provided by the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska in June 2025 shows a detail of the official icon of St. Olga of Kwethluk, Matushka of All Alaska. (Diocese of Sitka and Alaska via AP)Worshippers wait in long lines to view the remains of St. Olga following her canonization in her hometown of Kwethluk, Alaska, on June 19, 2025. The ceremony drew hundreds of faithful, including from nearby villages and across the world. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)This 1930s photo provided by her family shows Olga Michael, an Alaskan Yupik woman who became St. Olga of Kwethluk, Matushka of All Alaska, the first female North American saint in the Orthodox Church in America, and her husband, Nicolai Michael. (Courtesy Helen Lason via AP)This photo provided by Barbara Winslow shows Olga Michael at Winslows home in Kwethluk, Alaska, in 1979. (Barbara Winslow via AP)This image provided by the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska in June 2025 shows the official icon of St. Olga of Kwethluk, Matushka of All Alaska. (Diocese of Sitka and Alaska via AP)This circa 1975 photo provided by her family shows Olga Michael, an Alaskan Yupik woman who became St. Olga of Kwethluk, Matushka of All Alaska, the first female North American saint in the Orthodox Church in America. (Martha Nicolai via AP)Deacon Michael Lucius of Toronto visits the gravesite of Matushka Olga Michael in Kwethluk, Alaska, on June 18, 2025, a day before she became the first female Orthodox saint in North America. In the foreground is the grave of Olga's husband, Nicolai Michael, who was a priest in Kwethluk. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)Church officials move the relics, or remains, of Matushka Olga Michael from the church to a nearby graveyard for one last ceremony before her canonization ceremony to become St. Olga, in Kwethluk, Alaska, on June 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)Worshippers, including an Orthodox priest wearing a black cassock, walk on the dusty streets of Kwethluk, Alaska, on June 19, 2025, heading to St. Nicholas Orthodox Church for the canonization ceremony of St. Olga, the first female Orthodox saint in North America. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)Metropolitan Tikhon, the head of the Orthodox Church in America, swings a censer as he blesses the remains of Matushka Olga Michael before a ceremony that made her the first female Orthodox saint in North America, in Kwethluk, Alaska, on June 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)Worshippers fill St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Kwethluk, Alaska, on June 19, 2025, for the canonization ceremony of Matushka Olga Michael, who became the first female Orthodox saint in North America. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)Worshippers fill St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Kwethluk, Alaska, on June 19, 2025, for the canonization ceremony of St. Olga, the first female Orthodox saint in North America. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)Two women embrace during the canonization ceremony of St. Olga in Kwethluk, Alaska, on June 19, 2025, which made her the first female Orthodox saint in North America. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
Diocese of Sitka and Alaska
This image provided by the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska in June 2025 shows a detail of the official icon of St. Olga of Kwethluk, Matushka of All Alaska. (Diocese of Sitka and Alaska via AP)
