Land of St. Stephen has a fascinating history
The B.C. Catholic
The Kingdom of Hungary is a very special place that every Catholic pilgrim should visit. It was the first truly multiethnic state from its inception, and it contains countless treasures of inestimable value.
The land of St. Stephen, the king who found Hungary pagan and left it Catholic, has a fascinating history. At the time of his death, St. Stephen left his nation with an archbishopric, six bishoprics, three monasteries, and much more.
The land became fiercely Catholic, and the preferred route for pilgrims and merchants making their way to Constantinople and the Holy Land.
Hungary boasts many religious, artistic, and cultural attractions. One such gem is Esztergom, one of the oldest towns in Hungary, on the Danube River about 46 kilometres from Budapest.
It was here that St. Stephen lived and brought the Kingdom of Hungary into the Catholic fold. He is said to have been born and later baptized and even crowned king on this very site by St. Adalbert.
Esztergom is the “primatial see” of Hungary. Other nations which have primatial sees include Canada (Quebec City), Ireland (Armagh), Belgium (Mechelen), France (Lyon), and Poland (Warsaw).
Esztergom, once the capital of Hungary, boasts the largest church (and the largest building) in Hungary, the Primatial Basilica of Esztergom. This is the nation’s first cathedral, the mother church of the Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest and the seat of the Catholic Church in Hungary.
In other words, this is where the cardinal, the primate, lives, works, and has his episcopal cathedra (throne).
This classicist church makes for a very picturesque skyline. Elevated, with a high dome, and overlooking the winding Danube, it is illuminated at night. It is dedicated to both Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Adalbert.
The famous composer Franz Liszt wrote the Mass of Esztergom for the occasion of its dedication in the 19th century. The church has survived a lot, and legend has it that the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s wife took a liking to its architecture.
Inside the enormous church is the world’s largest single canvas painting. It is said the inside is so large that it has a reverberation time of more than nine seconds. In the church and crypt are the tombs of various famous personages and national heroes.
There is even a side chapel from the Middle Ages, which the builders of the new basilica disassembled into 1,600 separate pieces and incorporated into the new church in original form.
The basilica contains the relics of a “white” martyr of the 20th century. A white martyr is someone who, while not shedding their blood directly for the faith, nevertheless suffered immensely and died as a result.
Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty uncompromisingly opposed the government as he supported religious freedom. He was a 20th-century saint persecuted by both the Nazis and communists. He was tortured and unjustly imprisoned for eight years, then under house arrest for 15 years. By God’s grace he was able to escape the Soviet Union and died in exile in Vienna.
After the fall of communism, the cardinal was reinterred in his beloved Esztergom, in the crypt of the basilica, forever a national landmark. It is said that when he was created a cardinal in 1946, the Pope said to him prophetically: “Among these 32 you will be the first to suffer the martyrdom symbolized by this red colour.”
Also worth a visit in Esztergom is the largest ecclesiastical collection in Hungary, at the Christian Museum, within walking distance of the cathedral. The permanent exhibition on the second floor of the cardinal’s palace is a fascinating collection, with a bit of everything, including paintings, statues, textiles, and liturgical vestments.
Esztergom, with its spectacular scenery, has taken a long beating, from the Ottomans before the Nazis and the communists. Heavy fighting took place in this area during World War II.
Soviet troops captured the town on the day after Christmas, 1944, but were pushed back by the Germans on the feast of the Epiphany in 1945, and were finally ousted on March 21, 1945. Esztergom was left severely devastated, but reconstruction slowly managed to erase the traces of the war damage.
There is an inspirational British film related to Cardinal Mindszenty. The Prisoner is based upon a play released in 1955. Alec Guinness plays a cardinal in an unnamed east European country that has recently come under communist tyranny just after Nazi tyranny.
It has been said this film is loosely based upon the story of Cardinal Mindszenty, his arrest and imprisonment by the communists, and his show trial after a false accusation of treason.
J.P. Sonnen is a tour operator and history docent with Vancouver-based Orbis Catholicus Travel.
