Lincoln as secular saint

[Juan Marrero]

I have had a life-long almost religious reverence of Lincoln. I read somehere that he is one who can be called great in three aspects: as president, writer, and saint. I can't imagine that can be said of any other president and it is hard to name a president who satifies two of the three if by writer one means someone whose best writing is among the best prose in the English language. I can't think of another "saintly" president.

If I had to define the word "saint" in the secular context, I would say it is someone whose life was characterized by a selfless battle against cruelty, no matter that such cruelty was llegally or culturally accepted.

Washington, FDR, Jefferson, Madison, Kennedy and Reagan all have their "cults", but none like Lincoln. Perhaps Martin Luther King comes close, but I don't think he has the quasi-religious aura of Lincoln. Ironically, Robert E. Lee (at least in the South) was given a secular halo, but it does not seem that it is as firmly placed as before.

Is there another historical figure in American culture who comes close to Abraham Lincoln in this regard?