One of the benefits American Saints and Causes can provide the Catholic Church in the United States is insights that only are possible after compiling a comprehensive database of all United States saints and causes. On this page, we capture some observations seen in the data.
First, the database currently contains the following number of entries:
[Insert Pivot table called "Status of Cause", with counts in the column and the rows pulling each of the options in the "Status of Cause" field in the Saints and Causes collection, i.e., "Saint", "Blessed", Venerable", "Servant of God", and a row for the "Grand Total". The ideal is that the table updates automatically as new items are added to the Saints and Causes collection.]
Second, we present a breakdown of the saints and causes by “state of life”:
[Insert Pivot table called "State of Life", with counts for each category and the percentage of the total database represented by that category in the columns and the rows pulling each of the options in the "status of life" field in the Saints and Causes collection, i.e., "Bishop", "Priest", "Deacon", "Seminarian", "Religious Brother", "Religious Sister", "Laity", and a row for the "Grand Total". The ideal is that the table updates automatically as new items are added to the Saints and Causes collection.]
Are examples of heroic virtue that rare among the laity or is the laity underrepresented because of the lack of institutional structures prone to fund and promote their causes? With the emphasis in Christifideles Laici on the laity’s important and unique vocation, this seems like an area worthy of some attention by the Church.
Third, we present a breakdown of the saints and causes by gender:
[Insert Pivot table called "Gender", with the percentage of the total database that are men for a category and the percentage that are women for that same category in the columns and the rows pulling each of the options in the "status of cause" field in the Saints and Causes collection, i.e., "Saint", "Blessed", "Venerable", "Servant of God", and a row for the "Grand Total" on the split between men and women. The ideal is that the table updates automatically as new items are added to the Saints and Causes collection.]
While there is a pretty even number of men and women among the declared saints, the pipeline of causes is overwhelmingly male.
Fourth, we present a breakdown of the saints and causes by geography:
[Insert Pivot table called "States or Territories", with the count and percentage of the total database that are from a given state/territory in the columns and the rows pulling each of the options in the "State or Territory" field in the Saints and Causes collection. The ideal is that the table updates automatically as new items are added to the Saints and Causes collection.]
Quite a few states have at least one saint or a cause open, but a handful of states have most of the saints and causes in our database.
More analysis of our database is possible. If you are a diocese or cause that is interested in a different view of the data, drop us a note through our Contact Us - General page and we will look into it.
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