Please Note: this list is presented in good faith — while the majority have been confirmed, there is no guarantee that any of these people still are, or ever were, vegetarian.

Religious Leaders and Mystics

Abraham Kook, a.k.a. HaRav (1864-1935), first Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel

Anand Krishna, founder of Meditation Centre, author

Bagwan Sri Rajneesh, mystic, founder of the Rajneeshi sect/movement (Neo-Sanyas)

Basil of Caesarea (c.329-379), called the Great, Greek bishop, saint

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977), founder of ISKCON/ Krishna Consciousness

Siddhartha Guatama, a.k.a. Buddha (c.563BC-483BC) (note: taught his monks against killing animals, but they lived on alms, thus accepted meat given to them so long as the animal had not been killed specifically for their benefit. His death is attributed to eating either bad mushrooms or bad pork)

Caitanya Mahaprabhu (1486-1534), Indian saint

Catherine Booth (1829-1890), founder of The Salvation Army

Charles Fillmore (1854-1948), founder of Unity Church

Ching Hai, Spiritual leader, The Quan Yin Method

Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215), church father, saint

Confucius (551 BC-479 BC), philosopher

Da Free John, a.k.a. Franklin Albert Jones, spiritual teacher

The Dalai Lama

David Rosen, former Chief Rabbi of Ireland, considers “the consumption of meat as halachically unacceptable”

Deepak Chopra, author and spiritual teacher

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, spiritual leader

Ellen G. White (1827-1915), most published female writer in history, most translated female author (besides Agatha Christie), over 100 books and compilations, health reformer, one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist church

Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), Swedish scientist and theologian whose mystical ideas became the basis of

Swedenborianism/Swedenborgism

Father Henri Le Saux (1910-1973) and English Benedictine Dom Bede Griffiths (1906-1993), founded Benedictine monasteries in India. They were strict vegetarians absorbing into their order the concept of the ashram and sannyas. They both wore saffron and adopted Sanskrit names.

General William Booth (1829-1912), founder of Salvation Army

Gregory Boyd, bestselling Christian author, pastor of Woodland Hills megachurch

Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji (1929-2004) a.k.a. Yogi Bhajan, spiritual leader

Ilya Repin (1844-1930), Russian artist

Jiddu Krishnamurti, East Indian spiritual teacher

John Chrysostom (c.345-407), Greek patriarch, archbishop of Constatinople (3980404), saint

John Todd Ferrier (1855-1943), founder of the Order of the Cross, advocate of vegetarianism from a Christian viewpoint

John Wesley (1703-1791), theologian, founder of Methodism

Joshua Evans (1731 – 1798), Quaker minister, journalist, abolitionist

Karen Gross-Foster, Mystic, occultist, author, Visions From the Inner Realms

Maharashi Dayanand Saraswati, religious leader, founder of Arya Samaj

Maharashi Mahesh Yogi, writer, philosopher, leader of the Trancendental Meditation movement

Mahavira (599 BC-527 BC, possibly 549 BC-477 BC), established the central tenets of Jainism

Maitreya, mystic teacher

Maria Whitworth, medium and animal communicator

Mary Baker-Eddy (1821-1910), founder of Christian Science

Mata Amritanandamayi (Ammachi), Indian spiritual leader

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), humanitarian (vegan), hindu spiritual leader

Noach Valley, Manhattan Rabbi

Origen (185-254), scholar and theologian, early church father

Paramahansa Yogananda (?-1952), East Indian spiritual teacher & yogi

Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), Indian saint

Saint Anthony de Padua (1195-1231), Roman Catholic saint

Saint Brendan of Clonfert, a.k.a. Bréanainn of Clonfert (c.489-c.570), Irish saint, sailor, explorer

Saint David of Wales (500-587), church official, patron saint of Wales (known as Dewi Sant in Welsh)

Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), Italian saint, founder of the Franciscan order of friars

Saint Martin de Porres (1579-1639), Roman Catholic saint

Saint Nicholas of Tolentino (1246-1305), Roman Catholic saint

Saint Therese Neumann (1898-1962), Catholic stigmatist

Satchidananda (1914-2002), Indian religious figure

Sathya Sai Baba, spiritual leader

Serge Raynaud de la Ferriere, founder of the Universal Great Brotherhood (vegan)

Sergey Torop, a.k.a. Vissarion (1961-), Russian Mystic (vegan)

Shlomo Goren (1917-1994), Orthodox Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel

Sri Chimnoy, spiritual leader

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, spiritual leader, The Art of Living

Stephen Fuchs, Rabbi, lecturer, professor

Swami Chidvilasananda (Gurumayi), spiritual leader

Sylvester Graham (1795-1851), inventor of Graham Cracker, religious leader, health advocate

Tertullian (160-230), Roman theologian and Christian apoligist

Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist monk, leader of Engaged Buddhism

Tony Campolo (1935-), Christian author and speaker

Vinoba Bhave (1895-1982), National Teacher of Indian, spiritual successor of Gandhi

Yonassan Gershom, rabbi, author

Zoroaster (1000 BC), Iranian prophet, founder of Zoroastrianism