Expert: J.M.J. West - 7/10/2008

Question
Why was Olaf, a man who regularly tortured people into converting to Christianity and Cyril, a raving anti-semite canonized? Does the Church approve of these men's actions?

Answer
Alex,

Good question.  I'm assuming you mean this Olaf:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_II_of_Norway

I don't know which Cyril you are referring to.

The Catholic Encyclopedia records:  "In his early youth he went as a viking to England, where he partook in many battles and became earnestly interested in Christianity. After many difficulties he was elected King of Norway, and made it his object to extirpate heathenism and make the Christian religion the basis of his kingdom. He is the great Norwegian legislator for the Church, and like his ancestor (Olaf Trygvesson), made frequent severe attacks on the old faith and customs, demolishing the temples and building Christian churches in their place. He brought many bishops and priests from England, as King Saint Cnut later did to Denmark. Some few are known by name (Grimkel, Sigfrid, Rudolf, Bernhard)...He seems on the whole to have taken the Anglo-Saxon conditions as a model for the ecclesiastical organization of his kingdom. But at last the exasperation against him got so strong that the mighty clans rose in rebellion against him and applied to King Cnut of Denmark and England for help. This was willingly given, whereupon Olaf was expelled and Cnut elected King of Norway. It must be remembered that the resentment against Olaf was due not alone to his Christianity, but also in a high degree to his unflinching struggle against the old constitution of shires and for the unity of Norway. He is thus regarded by the Norwegians of our days as the great champion of national independence, and Catholic and Protestant alike may find in Saint Olaf their great idea.

"After two years' exile he returned to Norway with an army and met his rebellious subjects at Stiklestad, where the celebrated battle took place 29 July, 1030. Neither King Cnut nor the Danes took part at that battle. King Olaf fought with great courage, but was mortally wounded and fell on the battlefield, praying "God help me". Many miraculous occurrences are related in connection with his death and his disinterment a year later, after belief in his sanctity had spread widely. His friends, Bishop Grimkel and Earl Einar Tambeskjelver, laid the corpse in a coffin and set it on the high-altar in the church of St. Clement in Nidaros (now Trondhjem). Olaf has since been held as a saint, not only by the people of Norway, but also by Rome."

SOURCE: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11234a.htm

Canonization as a saint does not mean that the Church approves of all the actions performed in a mans life, but that the church recognizes - with proof of multiple miracles usually - that that individual is in heaven.  This is the case with Olaf, as with all other saints (St. Augustine was quite the scoundrel for the first part of his life!)

It's important to remember that nobody alive in the Church today is perfect, and also that what was and wasn't socially acceptable in previous eras shaped the outlook of the people of those days just as today they shape ours.  Peter Kreeft, a Catholic philosopher, wrote once that "I do not think we are necessarily more wicked than our ancestors, overall. True, we are less courageous, less honest with ourselves, less self-disciplined, and obviously less chaste than they were. But they were more cruel, intolerant, snobbish, and inhumane than we are. They were better at the hard virtues; we are better at the soft virtues. The balance is fairly even, I think."  In some areas, saints like Olaf may not have been very far ahead of their times, but in others they might have excelled; it's hard to judge such things, especially if we ourselves are not very aware of our own "rose-colored" glasses.

Hopefully that gives you some perspective on this matter.  If you have a more specific question, I'll try to go deeper.

Pax Christi,

-J.M.J. West