Jackie Klenda grew up hearing stories about Father Emil Kapaun and his acts of bravery and kindness serving in the Korean War. Now the Vatican is taking notice of Kapaun's life, too, and looking into canonizing him a Roman Catholic saint.

Kapaun was born in 1916 in Pilsen, Kan., the same hometown as Klenda, senior in agricultural education and member of the Cardinal Newman club at St. Isidore's Catholic Church.

"It's so great to know he's from the same place I am," she said. "It's a good reminder that becoming a saint is not impossible, and it's a humbling example to know that someone from our area could be a saint."

If Kapaun is canonized, he will be the third U.S.-born saint and the first Kansas-born saint. Andrea Ambrosi, a Vatican official and "skeptical investigator," was in Wichita on Friday to investigate several miracles credited to Kapaun, said Amy Pavlacka, communications director for the Catholic Diocese of Wichita.

Father Keith Weber, chaplain of the Catholic Student Center at K-State, said the canonization process can take anywhere from six to 300 years and includes an in-depth study of the person's life.

"We believe everyone in Heaven is a saint, but a canonized saint is someone whose life is so exemplary that everyone in the world would benefit from knowing about them and be inspired by their lives," Weber said.

There are also some requirements a person must meet in order to be considered for sainthood. According to Weber, the person must be known to be a holy person who has a deep relationship with God and he or she must have lived life in a way to make the Catholic church believe the person is in Heaven after death. He said that typically, if investigators can prove that the person has performed three miracles of God, then this validates he or she is in Heaven.

The most recent miracle attributed to Kapaun is the healing of 20-year-old Chase Kear of Colwich, Kan., whose head was severely injured in a pole-vaulting accident in October 2008 in Hutchinson, Kan. Pavlacka said Kear's family and hundreds of Catholics in his hometown prayed to Kapaun to intercede on Kear's behalf. Kear made a full recovery and Pavlacka said neurosurgeons and doctors are having a hard time explaining it, except to say, "it's miraculous."

Weber said since the Vatican is moving toward investigating Kapaun's miracles now, the official canonization could happen in the next two years. According to the KSN News Web site, Ambrosi, lawyer and investigator for the Vatican, "found [Kear's] survival enough of a miracle that he will continue studying the case, with the goal toward declaring it an official miracle."

Kapaun served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He died in a Chinese prisoner of war camp in 1951, but countless stories about his heroic gestures made their way back to America through soldiers who served with Kapaun, Pavlacka said.

"One man in New York talked about how he was lying in a ditch, but then Father Kapaun came and just picked him up and carried him out while they were under attack," she said. "And that was after knocking over a North Korean soldier and even being injured himself."

Klenda said if Kapaun is canonized as a saint, his life will encourage her to to be an example to others of a joyful life as a Roman Catholic.

"I'll want to tell people about him, and hopefully they can find inspiration in his story, too," Klenda said. "He was very selfless — his cause will only further be promoted in the Manhattan community."