Yes, it can. Unofficially and usually without much precision, Catholics and others might speak of a person as a saint or a living saint when describing someone with qualities best defined by the speaker. Usually, they mean someone still living who fits each speaker’s sense of a good, holy, virtuous person.
To a far lesser extent, Catholics might use the word saints more broadly to mean all those still-living believers in Christ, whether outstanding in holiness or not, and also those who have died and are not yet enjoying the life of heaven with God. The possibility for these two usages stems from the Church’s self-description as a “communion of saints”, a longstanding and intriguing term found in the Apostles’ Creed. Many Catholics readily understand that description to mean that the Church contains three connected groups. Employing terminology long used but now less favored in theological speech, the three groups are the “Church Triumphant”, or those already in heaven; the “Church Suffering”, or those in purgatory; and the “Church Militant”, those still on earth. Also, other Christian churches’ use of the word saint may have affected Catholic expression and thought, especially in the ecumenical spirit of the past few decades.
