Saints who taught religious harmony

[Christphr]

Who are canonized saints that taught religions must live in harmony, rather than trying to convert all to Christianity?

 

[Fauken]

Who are canonized saints that taught religions must live in harmony, rather than trying to convert all to Christianity?

First of all, trying to convert everyone and living peacefully with those of other religions are not mutually exclusive. As to your question, I don’t think any of them did. They wanted everyone to be Catholic, as Catholicism has the fullness of truth and is God’s Church. Plus they would be unable to receive the Eucharist as non-Catholics, which so many Saints have loved dearly and cherished over the centuries.

 

[Vico]

Who are canonized saints that taught religions must live in harmony, rather than trying to convert all to Christianity?

They saints teach to convert through baptism, which requires faith, so the Gospel is taught.

Matthew 10

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. 35 For I have come to set

a man ‘against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36 and one’s enemies will be those of his household.’

Matthew 18

15 “If your brother sins [against you], go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. 16 If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.

Matthew 28

18 Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

 

[Neithan]

Everyone should be Catholic. That’s why it’s called, Catholic.

Why isn’t everyone Catholic? That’s the question. Have we failed, and are failing, in our divine mission?

Not everyone needs to be Roman Catholic, though. I think the Chinese Rites controversy was an enormous error by the Roman church: a refusal to incorporate another culture into the church, as was done with Europeans in ancient times. Pope Pius XII eventually corrected this, but tremendous damage had already been done, perhaps permanent damage.*

*If Eastern Orthodox and Rome could mend the schism, I think autocephaly could open a new path for evangelization of the Far East. Full communion with Rome is necessary though, as we can see with melding of church and politics in the Chinese Patriotic Association (and in Russia).

 

[Christphr]

Might lay persons who simply professed faith by example, living amidst other religions be canonized saints?

 

[christofirst]

I think Pope St. John Paul II emphasized that we need both, not one or the other. Speaking to the Bishops of Guinea in 2003, he said, “At the time when suspicions, temptations to withdraw into self or the refusal of dialogue can be serious obstacles to social stability and personal religious freedom, it is important that the dialogue of life between Christians and Muslims continue, so that they may be ever more daring witnesses of the good and merciful Lord, in mutual respect.” In that same address he later said, “Dialogue, however, cannot be based on religious indifferentism, and we Christians are in duty bound, while engaging in dialogue, to bear clear witness to the hope that is within us.”

St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta also comes to mind, as she bore Christian witness to the mostly Hindu people of India through her loving service, without always overtly trying to convert them in an aggressive manner, which I personally do not think would have worked.

 

[Genesis315]

As has been mentioned, none since Christ forbids substituting one for the other. But and/both can be good where possible.

Here’s what St. Gregory VII wrote to a Muslim king who gave freedom to the Church and was on good terms with the Holy See:

God, the Creator of all, without whom we cannot do or even think anything that is good, has inspired to your heart this act of kindness. He who enlightens all men coming into this world (John 1.9) has enlightened your mind for this purpose. Almighty God, who desires all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2.4) and none to perish is well pleased to approve in us most of all that besides loving God men love other men, and do not do to others anything they do not want to be done unto themselves (cf. Mt. 7.14). We and you must show in a special way to the other nations an example of this charity, for we believe and confess one God, although in different ways, and praise and worship Him daily as the creator of all ages and the ruler of this world. For as the apostle says: “He is our peace who has made us both one.” (Eph. 2.14) Many among the Roman nobility, informed by us of this grace granted to you by God, greatly admire and praise your goodness and virtues… God knows that we love you purely for His honour and that we desire your salvation and glory, both in the present and in the future life. And we pray in our hearts and with our lips that God may lead you to the abode of happiness, to the bosom of the holy patriarch Abraham, after long years of life here on earth.