Would the following be declared servants of God?

[curious]

US Army Chaplain John P washington among the Four Chaplains lost on USAT Transport Dorchester "..annual mass is celebrated in his memory"

On December 2, 1980, four American churchwomen—Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and lay missionary Jean Donovan—were  murdered in El Salvador .Their  2025 Current status "..are not yet recognized as saints by the Catholic Church, though their cause for canonization has begun..."

Ironically they had been at the funeral of Murdered Archbishop Saint Oscar Romero

Also came across this article [mod edited]

Fr. Emil Kapaun [saint]
Father Joseph Verbis Lafleur {Servant of God]
rother Marinus (Leonard) LaRue
Vincent Robert Capodanno {Servant of God]

[eschator83]

The term Servant of God was quite widely used in the Old Testament and in the early Catholic Church.  Today, however, its primary usage is as title for someone whom the Vatican has accepted from a Bishop a petition for investigation to consider Canonization as a Saint.  I think Bishops generally designate a leader for a group to evaluate and prepare documentation of sanctity for the petition.  I can't recall reading a list of likely qualifications, although the subsequent steps for Beatification and Canonization described in a variety of publications.  It seems to me the candidates you mention deserve consideration, but I don't expect to get asked.

[curious]

The People of El Salvador consider the four nuns saints  

"...In January 2022, Mass was celebrated in El Salvador at the tomb of Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford by retired Bishop Octavio Cisneros of Brooklyn and Bishop Oswaldo Escobar of Chalatenango, El Salvador. Following the Mass, Bishop Escobar told Catholic News Service that Salvadoran bishops are working on a canonization cause that will include the four women martyrs." {february 23.2022]

[mod edit: no links, please see the rules]

[eschator83]

In the early Church all believers were often called Saints, which appears in certain letters of St Paul.  Later most martyrs were called Saints, and soon many local leaders of the Church and government were declaring Saints.  Somewhere I have the date of the first saint designated by a Pope (from a book I just loaned to my son) about 1250 (I will find details). 

[curious]

The first formally canonized saint by a Pope was St. Ulrich of Augsburg, designated by Pope John XV in 993. Prior to this, saints were recognized through local acclamation or general recognition within the Church. The formal canonization process, where the Pope officially declares a saint, was not established until the 10th century. 

[curious]

On the offical Vatian  News Website found the following remarks  December 2020

Pope's prayers at Audience
Pope Francis turned his thoughts to these four missionaries at the end his General Audience on Wednesday, the anniversary of their death. He said:

"Today is the 40th anniversary of the death of four missionaries killed in El Salvador... On the 2nd of December in 1980 they were kidnapped, raped and killed by a group of paramilitary forces. They were offering their services during the civil war and they were bringing food and medicine to those who had to flee, especially to the families that were the poorest. These women lived their faith with great generostiy. They are an example for all of us to become faithful missionary disciples."

They were just four of the more than 8,000 people who were killed in that first year of civil war alone, a war that went on for 12 years and that left over 75,000 people dead.


The People of El Salvador consider the four nuns saints  Little Angel Little Angel Little Angel Little Angel

"...In January 2022, Mass was celebrated in El Salvador at the tomb of Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford by retired Bishop Octavio Cisneros of Brooklyn and Bishop Oswaldo Escobar of Chalatenango, El Salvador. Following the Mass, Bishop Escobar told Catholic News Service that Salvadoran bishops are working on a canonization cause that will include the four women martyrs." {february 23.2022]



Also came across notice of Nuns killed during world war II
Vatican News March 2024//
Pope recognizes martyrdom of priest, 15 nuns killed during World War II
Pope Francis authorizes the promulgation of several decrees recognizing the martyrdom of a priest guillotined in Nazi Germany and 15 German-born nuns killed in the Soviet Union, as well as miracles attributed to three Venerables.
By Vatican News

Among the soon-to-be Beatified are 16 martyrs, killed out of hatred for the faith under Nazism and Soviet communism. The group includes a priest guillotined in Nazi Germany and 15 nuns of German origin killed by soldiers of the Red Army or who died in concentration camps in Soviet Russia.
Sr. Christophora Klomfass and her 14 companions of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyr (CSC) died in 1945.

The nuns were killed out of hatred for the faith by Soviet soldiers, enduring rape, torture, and death due to hardship, maltreatment, or diseases in concentration camps in Soviet Russia. As a fierce sign of contempt for the Christian faith, their tormentors often cut and tore their religious clothing.

A priest for peace and ecumenism during Hitler's time
Fr. Max Josef Metzger, a German diocesan priest and founder of the Secular Institute Societas Christi Regis, was killed on April 17, 1944, in Nazi Germany.

The priest was active in pacifist and ecumenical movements, and in 1917 he founded the Universal Peace League of the White Cross. Ten years later, he participated as a Catholic observer at the Lausanne Assembly, which gave rise to the Ecumenical Council of Churches.

Upon the rise of Nazism, he spoke out openly against Hitler. He was first arrested in 1939 and a second time in 1943.

Sentenced to death, he was guillotined on April 17, 1944, in the Brandenburg-Görden prison. He was aware that his commitment to peace and ecumenism, as well as his refusal of the Nazi regime in the name of Christ, could cost him his life.