At the beginning of the twentieth century, Pentecostalism disrupted the U.S. religion market. Charismatic beliefs and practices, particularly the emphasis on baptism of the Holy Spirit and miraculous physical healing, comingled with the Wesleyan holiness movement. Soon, divisions arose between holiness and Pentecostal movements. Divisions also occurred within Pentecostalism giving rise to distinct types. Within this fluid religion market, with doctrinal debates and controversies, Pentecostal, holiness-Pentecostal, and holiness missionaries entered Guatemala openly competing with existing mainline Protestant, holiness, and evangelical missions. Without regard for doctrinal orthodoxy, independent missionaries proselytized their beliefs throughout the country, converting existing congregations and introducing Pentecostal beliefs. Likewise, the new denominations’ mission boards were complicit in creating doctrinal heterodoxy by hiring individual missionaries whose beliefs contradicted the denomination’s doctrinal position. A major legacy of the heterodoxy is the highly schismatic (heterogeneous) nature of the Guatemalan religion market.

Child and youth martyrs throughout the history of Christianity are few. New emphasis on their presence in the twentieth century raises questions about the nature of sanctity. Using a new data set on child, adolescent, and youth martyrs beatified and canonized since 1588, this article discusses early modern to contemporary models of sanctity for males and females while at the same time showing how the ancient motif of puer senex continues to be relevant in their narratives. With Catholic teachings adapting to contemporary views on child agency and autonomy, several problems arise, requiring the Church to re-evaluate its models of sanctity for young people.

Since Pope John Paul II's stock-taking of twentieth century martyrs, the Catholic Church has significantly increased the beatification and canonization of martyrs.  Not only have the numbers of martyrs increased but the definition of martyrdom has expanded.  Using a comprehensive new data set on Catholic martyrs (1588-2020), we argue that the Vatican's recent emphasis on martyrs is a strategic response to competition with Protestants, especially Evangelicals.  Martyrs, unlike regular saints (confessors),  tend to be predominantly male and died in parts of the world where the Catholic Church was actively involved in evangelization or had a significant presence.  Martydom often associates with violent events, such as the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the French Revolution, and with mass persecutions such as in the case of the English Reformation or in cases of repression of missionaries, as in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and China.