First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (1 Tim 2:1-6)
The apostle commands—rather, the Lord speaking through the apostle commands through him—that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions. All priests and all faithful adhere unanimously to this norm of supplication in their devotions. There is no part of the world in which Christian peoples do not offer up these prayers. The Church, then, pleads before God everywhere, not only for the saints and those regenerated in Christ, but also for infidels and all enemies of the cross of Christ, for all worshipers of idols, for all who persecute Christ in His members, for the Jews whose blindness does not see the light of the gospel, for heretics and schismatics who are alien to the unity of faith and charity.
But what does she beg for them if not that they leave their errors and be converted to God, that they accept the faith, accept charity, that they be freed from the shadows of ignorance and come to the knowledge of the truth?… While thanking Him for those who are saved, we should hopefully pray that the same divine grace may deliver from the power of darkness those who are still without light and conduct them into the kingdom of God before they depart this life.
The apostle commands—rather, the Lord speaking through the apostle commands through him—that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions. All priests and all faithful adhere unanimously to this norm of supplication in their devotions. There is no part of the world in which Christian peoples do not offer up these prayers. The Church, then, pleads before God everywhere, not only for the saints and those regenerated in Christ, but also for infidels and all enemies of the cross of Christ, for all worshipers of idols, for all who persecute Christ in His members, for the Jews whose blindness does not see the light of the gospel, for heretics and schismatics who are alien to the unity of faith and charity.
But what does she beg for them if not that they leave their errors and be converted to God, that they accept the faith, accept charity, that they be freed from the shadows of ignorance and come to the knowledge of the truth?… While thanking Him for those who are saved, we should hopefully pray that the same divine grace may deliver from the power of darkness those who are still without light and conduct them into the kingdom of God before they depart this life.
Prosper of Aquitaine, The Call of All Nations 1.12
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