We Americans are a fiercely nationalistic people – not merely patriotic, but nationalistic. Not only are foreign peoples to be rated to the degree that they resemble us, but those who do not are truly “lesser breeds without the law”. While “un-Italian,” “un-French,” and, say, “un-Dutch” would mean only “foreign” to denizens of those respective countries, “un-American” carries with it all sorts of immoral and dishonest connotations.
Despite the active Causes for canonisation of nine beati, 20 venerabili, and scores of Servants of God born or martyred in the United States, many – perhaps most – are unknown to the majority of American Catholics. At the same time, there are at least five foreign candidates for sainthood who have relatively large followings in the United States.
