Saints come in all varieties—young and old, male and female, known and unknown. You may have heard someone call your mother a saint, and been sure that it was a first-rate compliment. And yet you also know your mother wasn't being placed in the same category as St. Jude or St. Anthony, two of the most popular of those we count among the canonized or official saints of the Roman Catholic Church. To get into that category of sainthood, a person's life is thoroughly investigated by Church authorities after death and many miracles are expected through the intercession or influence of that person's prayers.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta is a good bet for future sainthood. Even the nonreligious world is amazed at her simple and tireless love for the babies and starving old people left to die in the streets.

Now here's a question for you: Is she the only saint among the 4 billion people in the world right now? Come to think of it, are Elizabeth Seton, Frances Cabrini, John Neuman and Katherine Drexel (soon) the only saints among the millions of people who have lived and died in the United States?

The number of official saints so declared by the Catholic Church is a lot bigger than your world history book. Of this number, 173 are on the Church calendar of feasts, which means their names will appear in the missalette and may be mentioned at Mass on the anniversary of their deaths. And how many of those can you name right now?

What's Going On Here?

The way I see it, saints come in two varieties. Some are capital-S saints, and others are small-s saints. Everyone is expected to be a saint of some variety!

Capital-S saints are those who were heroically holy. Not just good people or even very good people, these women and men were extraordinary in their goodness. They are people of whom we can say, "Well, if they can go that far, I can at least go this far!" Capital-S saints are recognized by the Church as being in heaven because they practiced heroic virtue on earth.

In the early days of the Church, the martyrs (women and men who were killed because of their faith) were felt to be in heaven because they had made the supreme sacrifice of faithful love. As members of the Church continued to be persecuted for their choice to follow Jesus, they began to pray to these martyrs for the grace to be as brave, as good, as faithful as they had been. The dates and places of their deaths or burials were recorded on the calendar of "dates to remember."

Toward the end of the persecutions, honor was given to those who suffered for the faith, even if that suffering didn't go as far as death itself. These were called "confessors." The dictionary says that one meaning of "confess" is "to declare faith in." These men and women had "confessed" Jesus with whole hearts.

Later still, veneration (honor not entirely unlike what we give to presidents, war heroes, famous athletes and movie stars) was given to those who had been outstanding examples of the Christian life: for instance, the great teachers of the Church, now called the Fathers and Doctors; to great bishops and missionaries; and to those whose lives were filled with love of their neighbors.

Sometimes this veneration of the saints would become exaggerated or go overboard, the way that the devotion of Elvis Presley fans has led to continued tears at his grave, pilgrimages to Graceland, rumors that he is still alive and "sightings" of him across the country.

Other times little has been certain about a saint, perhaps little more than a name and a reputation for goodness. Take St. Christopher. Possibly he was an early martyr whose story has faded from memory, but much of what is said about him is legend. Even in the early legends, nothing is said about his carrying the Christ child across a river, which is the tale on which his reputation for protecting travelers rests. His name, in Greek, does mean "Christ-bearer."

Such legends and exaggerations led leaders in the Church to try to bring some order into the system of naming saints. Today the process of canonization, or being declared a saint, is a very rigorous and lengthy one.

What Do Saints Do?

More than one recipe for sainthood exists. First, it was restricted to martyrs and confessors. In the Mass book and on the Church calendar today, these are the categories of saints: apostles, martyrs, pastors, virgins and religious, and holy men and women. That last group took a long time to gain status. The Church needed to grow in the wisdom to state publicly that "ordinary" men and women in the world, married or single, could be saints.

The best way to explain sainthood is to study the lives of some who made it. In alphabetical order by first names (we seem to be on a first-name basis with saints), here are some saints who began to think seriously about faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ when they were teenagers. In parentheses is: first, the years of each one's life; second, the date of his or her feast, usually the day of death or of burial; and third, the category of sainthood in which each is listed.

Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-1591; June 21; religious) grew up exposed to a "society of fraud, dagger, poison and lust." Change the two middle words to "guns and drugs" and he could have grown up in the cities of the 1980's. His early homes were the royal court and an army camp. By the age of 11, he was teaching catechism to poor children in Florence.

Aloysius became a Jesuit at the age of 17 and was enthusiastic about doing very difficult penances, hoping to become holier. He was wisely told not to fast, but to eat more; not to spend so much time alone, but to make friends with the other seminarians. He learned much about holiness by being obedient to what was recommended, rather than doing as he wished.

He died at 23 of the plague, which he caught as he cared for other plague patients, bathing them and changing their beds. Aloysius Gonzaga was canonized in 1726 and is the patron saint (patron means one who watches over you with special care) of Catholic youth.

Catherine of Siena (1347-1380; April 29; virgin) cut off her long and beautiful hair in protest against a wordly "wisdom" that said the only thing a girl must do is "catch" a handsome husband. Her father sensed that she was special and gave her a room of her own for prayer, although they had many other children.

Catherine became a great mystic (in close contact with God most of the time) and as a mystic realized that the world needed the help of holy people. She became more and more involved in public affairs. Opposition and unkind remarks were the thanks she got for speaking out honestly and wisely about world events.

When she was 31, the Catholic Church was divided by what was called the Great Schism (1378-1417) when more than one man claimed to be pope. Catherine worked tirelessly in behalf of the real pope, who took her advice, even though she criticized him. She was canonized in 1461 and was made the patron saint of Italy in 1939.

Charles Lwanga (died 1886; June 3; martyr) was probably around 20 years old when he was burned to death as a martyr. He was the head of the pages, or menservants, of the King of Uganda. He and many other young men were imprisoned for refusing the sexual demands of the king. As the king came to realize that they would have nothing to do with him because of their moral beliefs, he came to hate Catholics. In prison, Charles taught the others what he himself had learned about Jesus from the previous leader of the pages, Joseph Mukaso. Charles Lwanga was one of 22 martyrs canonized in 1964.

Elizabeth Bayley Seton (1774-1821; January 4; religious) was a true daughter of the American Revolution. She was linked by birth and marriage to the highest society of New York. At 19, this belle of New York married William Seton, and had five children in a happy marriage. Seton's business failed, he died and she was left a widow at 30 with five small children.

Three things brought her to the Catholic Church: its faith in the reality of the Eucharist as the Body and Blood of Christ; its love of Mary; and the conviction that the Church traced its history to the apostles. She opened a school and her helpers became a religious community, the Sisters of Charity.

A thousand of her letters remain, showing her developing from ordinary goodness to heroic holiness, through trials and sickness, misunderstanding, the death of loved ones and even the heartache of a wayward son. Canonized in 1975, Elizabeth Seton was the first official saint to have been born in the United States.

Frances Cabrini (1850-1917; November 13; virgin) began her charitable work in an orphanage. When she was 22, that orphanage was closed by the bishop even though he was pleased with her work. With six other women, she came to America to work among poor Italian immigrants in New York City. The archbishop advised her to go home, but she was a determined woman.

In 35 years, Frances established 67 institutions for the poor, the sick, the uneducated and the abandoned, as well as founding schools and programs for adult education. She has the distinction of being the first person who lived in the United States to be canonized. She is the patron saint of immigrants, having been canonized in 1950.

Maria Goretti (1890-1902; July 6; virgin and martyr) lived only 12 years, was quite poor, never had any education, and could neither read nor write. The son of her father's partner, Alexander Serenelli, who lived in the same house, tried to rape her, but she resisted. Serenelli stabbed her repeatedly and she died from her wounds about 24 hours after the attack.

A very simple, unsophisticated girl, her worries as she lay dying were for her mother and for her murderer. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison where he was sullen and uncooperative, until he had a dream of Maria Goretti bringing him flowers. He then regretted his crime, and after 27 years in prison, his first act upon release was to ask forgiveness of Maria's mother. He was present for her canonization in 1950.

Martin de Porres (1579-1639; November 3; religious) had a difficult start in life as the the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a black woman of Panama. With his mother and sister, Martin lived in the slums of Lima, Peru. When he was 12, his mother apprenticed him to a barber. At that time, being a barber was like being a medical assistant, and he learned many ways to help the sick feel more comfortable and to recover.

Martin entered a religious order (the Dominicans) and used his medical talents to help the poor during the day while he spent much of the night in prayer. Many other black children of white men were slaves and Martin offered to sell himself as a slave when the Dominicans were in need of money. When he was canonized in 1962, Pope John XXIII named him the patron saint of interracial justice.

Therese of the Child Jesus (1873-1897; October 1; virgin) has gotten a reputation for being delicate and sweet that really blurs her reputation for heroic holiness. She did lead a very ordinary life, not unlike yours in its probable lack of high adventure. She was allowed to enter the convent at a rather early age of 17. She took the little things of her everyday life and did them as well as she possibly could. For her nine years as a woman of prayer in a quiet cloister (not open to the public) as well as one who did housework and dishwashing without complaint, she was canonized in 1925.

The Story of a Soul, which is her autobiography, has been read by millions and encouraged them all in the path to saintliness. In order to emphasize the importance of prayer and its influence in the world, Saint Therese was named a patron saint of the missions, even though she herself never left France. Her vocation was a life devoted entirely to contemplation, a sign to the rest of us that we are all called to be contemplatives, that is, very aware of God's presence.

Count Me Out!

Most people, not just teenagers, shrink from any suggestion that they should be saints. You're probably having some struggles picturing yourself as a Charles Lwanga, a Catherine of Siena or even as Saint Jennifer of Coldwater. It's important to remember that these were one-in-a-million persons. They were heroically holy.

But what about us non-heroine/heroes? I can't quite picture God saying to you and me, "Well, it's O. K. if you just give me 70 percent." Our Creator wants everyone's 100 percent, but each person's heroism, each person's best, will have a special uniqueness, a beautiful difference from the life of any other person, dead or alive.

Holy people, Saints or saints, are simply people who accept God's constant offer of friendship, faith, love, courage—right in the undramatic circumstances of everyday life. It's not their doing that they're Saints or saints, except that they say "yes" to God, let God purify them gradually, and depend on God totally. Our Creator always makes the first move, and has offered us total friendship in Jesus. God's love, the Scriptures report, "is poured out within us by the Holy Spirit" (Romans 5:5).

Try to pare away the unusual circumstances of the saints mentioned before, so that you can look at the bare bones of their lives. 1) Their love of God made them very concerned about other people, especially the down-and-outers. 2) They were strong personalities—at least as they grew. 3) Some of them made mistakes, big mistakes. All of them grew, learned and improved. 4) They were big on prayer. 5) They knew suffering. That's not what made them saints, however. Everybody suffers a bit sooner or later. The key was that they rose above it, fought through it and maintained their peace of mind through a strong friendship with Jesus, God and true human being. 6) Most of all, they were humble. They always knew they had a long way to go. St. Francis said, towards the end of his life, "Brothers, let us now begin to do good, for as yet we have done nothing."

Are There Any Saints/saints Around Today?

I know lots of teenagers who may not be heroic, but they certainly are holy. There's Amy, who will probably be the first stand-up comic canonized. There's Joe, who will joyfully be a mechanic, probably never rich, but whom some girl will find to be a strong, honest, kind husband. I know Helen, a victim of cystic fibrosis, an incurable, hereditary disease. She has a freckled Irish face and a strong will. That strong will has overcome her disability. She drives her body in a powerful if awkward walk—even down the aisle for her brother's wedding. I know Pete, a quiet one, dropped from the baseball team without an explanation. He stayed around as equipment manager. Then there's Sheila, a high school junior, who socked a South American policeman in the jaw when he came on to her. She's also matured to the point of giving talks to other teenagers during retreats.

I don't necessarily expect any of these young people to be canonized, though they will do some heroically good things. But they will certainly be small-s saints in their parishes, in their neighborhoods, in the long haul of marriages, maybe at the altar or in the convent. I'm sure they will all be known as people-for-others.

Someone once gave a motto for living—and being a saint: "Do what you can with what you've got." Translated into gospel language, I think that motto would read: "Love me, love my brothers and sisters, with the whole of the heart that I gave you."

Leonard Foley is a Franciscan friar with many years of experience as a parish priest, teacher, retreat director, author and editor. His books include works on the saints and on the .sacraments. His newest book, published this fall, is A Story of Jesus: For Those Who Have Only Heard Rumors.

Youth Update advisors who previewed this issue, asked important questions and offered helpful advice are Carmen Bruns, 16; Lisa Larkin, 16; Amy Lefeld, 14, Matt Muhlenkamp, 17; Bryan Pax, 14; Shannon Schmit, 15; and Pete Wenning,15. All are members of Holy Trinity Parish in Coldwater, Ohio.