Any saints who were seriously evil and depraved before their conversion?

[beev_bove_biv]

I mean like really, really bad.

[Michael Wilson]

You can read this book by Reverend Alban Goodier "Saints For Sinners"; has some great stories of sinners that became saints.
https://www.sistersofcarmel.com/saints-for-sinners-archbishop-alban-goodier.php
Saint Mary of Egypt was a prostitute that became an anchorite renowned for her penance and purity of life.
There is a saint who's name escapes me, a Virgin who converted a magician that was sent to pervert her, and he along with her became a martyr.
Here below is the story of  "Blessed" Bartolo Longo (1841-1926) A Satanic high priest, that became a Dominican Tertiary and died in the odor of Sanctity:https://dominicanfriars.org/former-satanist-priest-became-saint/

[Heinrich]

St. Mary Magdalene.

[Elizabeth]

This is a really good topic.  Back in maybe 2003-04 SSPX had a calendar of such saints and bios.  I just couldn't believe it, and I wish I'd saved it.  Who knew that so many saints had been heroic in service to Our Lord after repenting.  I really thought they all were special from the get-go.  Wonder how we could find more?

St. Rita of Cortona
St. Mary of Egypt

[nmoerbeek]

I mean like really, really bad.

St. Vladimir the Great before his baptism was a bloodthirsty, murderous, pagan who raped his brothers wife after having him murdered.

[Heinrich]

St. Paul

St. Boniface the Roman

[mikemac]

 
There is a saint who's name escapes me, a Virgin who converted a magician that was sent to pervert her, and he along with her became a martyr.

Possibly Saint Christina?

https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_christina.html


I don't think he was really, really bad, but liked to party too much.  St. Monica prayed for her son St. Augustine for a long time before he converted.

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1

[drummerboy]

I mean like really, really bad.

St. Vladimir the Great before his baptism was a bloodthirsty, murderous, pagan who raped his brothers wife after having him murdered.

Don't forget the Old Testament and David's murder of Uriah to cover his adultery

[Elizabeth]

There was that occultist Bongo or something...of course St. Augustine. 

[james03]

St. Augustine

Fr. Andreas Wouters of the Martyrs of Gorkum:

To be blunt, Andreas Wouters had been a lousy priest.  A drunkard and notorious womanizer,  he had fathered several children.  Suspended from his duties  he was living in disgrace when the Sea Beggars captured Gorkum.  This was his cue to run as far away as possible, based on his past history.  Instead, perhaps understanding that God was giving him maybe his last chance to redeem himself, he volunteered to join the captive priests and brothers.

....  As the noose was being fastened around his neck, his captors kept mocking Father Wouters.  His last words before he entered eternity were:   Fornicator I always was; heretic I never was.

[MaximGun]

Really really bad, no.

There are no former sodomite saints. No corrupters of children.  No abortionist saints.  There does appear to be a line which if you cross you are not going to become a saint or even die in a state of grace.  A prostitute in the past cannot be compared to a prostitute in the Western world today. The motive and alternative options for keeping yourself fed are very different.

The idea that really evil people convert simply is not translated into reality.  If there were really really evil people who became saints we would know about it because it makes a more interesting tale.

[Julio]

^^I think Saint Paul by persecuting and killing the believers of Jesus was really that bad. Killing is a mortal sin in the first place that equals those sinful acts that you mentioned.

[Greg]

I can think of three who caused the loss of millions of souls and never even converted or regretted their actions - as far as we have even 1 iota of evidence for.

Saints are not what they used to be.

[Jayne]

There does appear to be a line which if you cross you are not going to become a saint or even die in a state of grace. 

All the evidence suggests that Dr. Bernard Nathanson died in a state of grace. 

He was an abortionist who personally killed thousands of babies, oversaw the murders of tens of thousands more, and, as a founder of NARAL, contributed to the deaths of millions beyond that.

He came to understand the evil that he had done and became active in the Prolife movement.  Eventually he was baptized as a Catholic and remained a Catholic in good standing up to the time of his death.

There is nothing in Catholic teaching about crossing a line beyond the reach of God's grace.  That just somebody's personal opinion which we are free to ignore.  And so we should.

As far as the Church is concerned, anybody can convert.  This is the meaning of the parable of the Vineyard Workers. (Matt 20:1-16)  Those who wasted most of the day and were only hired on to work at the very end of the day still received the full wage.

Corinthians 6: 9-11 contains a (non-exhaustive) list of sins that can be forgiven.

Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, [10] Nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God.  And such some of you were; but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of our God.

(The phrase "liers with mankind" refers to sodomy.  This sin is explicitly mentioned as one from which people were justified and sanctified, so MG is wrong about this too.)

Whatever we have done, we can be washed, sanctified and justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God.  Anyone who said that our sins are too great to be forgiven and told us to give up on salvation would be guilty of counselling despair, itself a serious sin.

[Bernadette]

I remember reading that a really bad Nazi commandant went to confession before his execution. That was pretty cool.