A saint (from the Latin sanctus) is a human being who has been called to holiness.

Anthropological perspectives

While there are parallels between these (and other) concepts and that of sainthood, it is important to remember that each of these concepts has specific meanings within their given religion, and not all of those meanings are identical with the meaning of the idea of sainthood. Also, several religions which are at times considered to be new religious movements have taken to using the word, sometimes in cases where the people so named were generally not regarded to be Christians, in the conventional sense. Some of the Cao Dai saints and Saints of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica are examples of such.

The anthropologist Lawrence Babb in an article about Sathya Sai Baba asks the question "Who is a saint?", and responds by saying that in the symbolic infrastructure of some religions, there is the image of a certain extraordinary spiritual king's "miraculous powers", and to whom frequently a certain moral presence is attributed. These saintly figures, he asserts, are "the focal points of spiritual force-fields," exerting "powerful attractive influence on followers but touch the inner lives of others in transforming ways as well."

Roman Catholic Church

Also, by this definition there are many people believed to be in Heaven who have not been formally declared as Saints (most typically due to their obscurity and the involved process of formal canonization) but who may nevertheless generically be referred to as saints (lowercase 's'). Anyone in Heaven is, in the technical sense, a saint, since they are completely purified and holy. Unofficial devotions to uncanonised individuals take place in certain regions. Also, sometimes the word 'saint' is used to refer to Christians still sojourning here on earth.

John A. Coleman S.J., associate professor of religion and sociology at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, wrote that saints across various cultures and religions have the following family resemblances 1. exemplary model 2. extraordinary teacher 3. wonder worker or source of benevolent power, 4. intercessor 5. possessor of a special and revelatory relation to the holy.

In his book, Saint of the Day, editor Leonard Foley, OFM, says this of saints:" 1 surrender to God's love was so generous an approach to the total surrender of Jesus that the Church recognizes them as heroes and heroines worthy to be held up for our inspiration. They remind us that the Church is holy, can never stop being holy and is called to show the holiness of God by living the life of Christ."

In the Catholic Church, persons bear the stigmata, wounds of the Crucifixion and Passion of Jesus Christ given to a person, as a sign of extreme holiness or sainthood. St. Francis of Assisi is the most notable example of a saint bearing the stigmata in Catholicism. The abbreviation for the term Saint is usually “St.” or “St”.