dear prologos...
you asked, "Talking of Catholics, do they not have saints too? not just all those partaking of communion, but a special class guaranteed to be in heaven? Working in our behalf,"...
I THINK that the catholic church teaches that once a person dies they can no longer help those on earth. It is those left on earth that can help the departed by asking God to remember their life, accept them into His kingdom and grant them eternal life. It is the continuation of prayer, communion mass and faithfulness from one generation to the next that is the storehouse from which those on earth can draw from (that is why God is asked to remember them)...there is nothing to be drawn from them, ie. working on our behalf, once they are departed. That's what I've gathered from many a ukrainian catholic "divine liturgy of christian burial" and "homily" anyway.