Many religions keep lists of departed 'holy' people or 'saints' who are revered. The veneration of the morally exalted also obtains in the non-sacred sphere, in the category of "secular saints."

Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, and George Orwell are among those who frequently receive this designation in print. The ranks of secular saints, like those of religious ones, are often filled by martyrs: Abraham Lincoln, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Václav Havel and Nelson Mandela have been canonized in the media as have U2's Bono and the rocker-humanitarian Bob Geldof.

Herbert "Betinho" de Souza - loved and admired for confronted economic injustice and government corruption in Brazil.

Christopher Manion calls the "beloved" John F. Kennedy the epitome of the modern secular saint becoming an object of national veneration, and a "federal martyr" complete with a modern secular shrine, the "eternal flame" honoring secular America’s "mortal god."

Peter Hitchens told BBC radio that Nelson Mandela's status had been elevated to a superhero and a sort of political secular saint.

From the New Statesman: "Orwell's status as the secular saint of socialism is built on a myth."

Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Peace Prize winner and secular saint of the colonial era.

Innocent beauty Audrey Hepburn has posthumously achieved the status of secular saint.

References and further reading

• Ambroise-Auguste Liebeault: The Hypnological Legacy Of A Secular Saint by Laurent Carrer
• The Path of Brighteousness by Cullen Murphy for the Atlantic
• St. John F. Kennedy by Christopher Manion
• Lincoln's Locks: The Relics of a Secular Saint by Lesley Lathrop-Vitu