Gergely Kovács: JÓZSEF MINDSZENTY THE MOST FAITHFUL PASTOR

J贸zsef Mindszenty T H E M O S T FA I T H F U L PA S TO R

ALAPITVANY

Gergely Kovรกcs

Jร ZSEF MINDSZENTY THE MOST FAITHFUL PASTOR

Published by: Michael von Habsburg-Lothringen President of the Hungarian Mindszenty Foundation H-1085 Budapest, Horánszky u. 22. www.mindszenty.katolikus.hu www.fidelissimuspastor.hu ungmind@gmail.com © Gergely Kovács, 2014 © Hungarian Mindszenty Foundation, 2014 This short biography was compiled by the author based on his book entitled Isten Embere – Szemtől szembe Mindszenty bíborossal, published in 2005.

The exclusive owner of the photos published in the book is the Hungarian Mindszenty Foundation. All rights reserved.

We dedicate this book to István Mészáros, the most prestigious Hungarian researcher of Cardinal Mindszenty’s life, doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

May God bless him, keep him, and reward him for his unique work.

Copy editor: Brigitta Nagy Translated by (based on the English translation of the author’s book entitled Isten Embere – Szemtől szembe Mindszenty bíborossal, by Sába Tesfay): Ágnes Csimma Page setting and pre-press preparation: László Lapos Printed by: Séd Nyomda, Szekszárd Executive manager: Szilvia Katona The publication of this book was funded by the National Cooperation Fund.

ISBN 978-615-80011-1-3

ALAPITVANY

The most faithful pastor in times of persecution József Mindszenty 29 March 1892 – 6 May 1975 Cardinal, Prince Primate of Hungary, Archbishop of Esztergom

Self-sacrificing good pastor of his faithful. † A saintly apostle of faith, prayer and reparation. † An outstanding model of patriotism and heroic moral courage. † A consistent proclaimer of truth and charity in a difficult period of Hungary’s history. † A strong man who sincerely forgave his enemies whilst suffering unjust imprisonment. † A spiritual uniting force of Hungarians scattered all over the world.1

“He gave an example of noble virtues to the Catholic world.

He wore the crown of thorns with the dignity of an outstanding pastor.” 2 POPE SAINT JOHN PAUL II

1 Mindszenty’s life was summarised in form of an invocation by Church historian István Mészáros for the commemorative plaque placed in the atrium of the Primatial Basilica of Esztergom.

2 Letter of Pope John Paul II to László Cardinal Paskai, dated 6 February 1990, cited in István Mészáros, Ki volt Mindszenty?, 153.

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IN CHRIST’S VINEYARD The first son of János Pehm, farmer, and Borbála Kovács was born on 29 March 1892, and was baptised József on the very same day. Undoubtedly, the person who had the biggest impact on József Mindszenty Pehm’s life was his mother. He owed to her his medium height, his facial features, his big brown eyes, and the majority of his inner characteristics. His mother’s loving care and willingness to make sacrifices, along with her prayers, paved the way for his priesthood, and she always stood by him in the vicissitudes of his daily life as a priest. His childish imagination was fascinated by the legends of Hungarian saints. Later, as a pastor, he often recalled their stories in front of his audience.

It was in 1903 when he left his native village for the first time: “The first school wear, hat and the first trip to a big town that swallows the most precious treasure of a mother and a little village are great things in life.”3 He arrived in the historic town of Szombathely eager to learn. The Premonstratensian monks teaching in Saint Norbert Secondary School were just as strict and warmhearted as his parish priest described them.

His favourite subjects were religion, history, and literature. In 1909, he was given the homework of writing an essay about “The Joys and Sorrows of a Mother”.

He later completed 3 The Mother, 271 (page number of the Hungarian edition)

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the essay and published it in 1916 under the title “The Mother”. In his book, he also recalled his memories concerning his vocation: “Those kind mothers went from church to church to pray for the future of their sons. They shed tears at the sight of the seminarists’ surplice.

Then a moment come for the choice of profession, in which earthly and eternal happiness were at stake.

And the mother’s words: Go where God calls you to go!”4 In the discernment of his vocation, besides his mother, Transylvanian bishop Károly Majláth, co-founder of the Regnum Marianum priestly and youth community, who once visited and heard the confessions of the students in Szombathely, also played an important role.

Towards the end of his first year in the seminary, Bishop János Mikes offered the talented seminarist the opportunity to study abroad on a scholarship. However, he did not aspire to obtain high-level qualifications or to build a quick church career, neither did he seek office work or a teaching position. He wanted to be a pastor, or a secular priest, as they used to say at that time. The traditionally beautiful ceremony of his ordination took place in the Cathedral of Szombathely on 12 June 1915. It was Bishop János Mikes who anointed his clasped hands with the consecrated oil, and he vowed obedience to his bishop in front of him. He put the chasuble representing Jesus’ cloak and his ministry on his shoulders, and beneath it the white alb of his vow of chastity assumed for Him, along with the stole of the absolving and joining powers. That is, all the sacred vestments he had been craving for since his childhood years.

4 The Mother, 272-273. (page number of the Hungarian edition)

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His bishop first sent Father Mindszenty to start his priestly ministry in Felsőpaty (currently Rábapaty), and, after a year and half of chaplaincy, he appointed him as teacher of religion at the state Secondary School in Zalaegerszeg. József Mindszenty was around 25 years old at that time. His appointment was accompanied by the following advice of his bishop: “Don’t work too much!” At that time more than three hundred boys attended the eight-year school, out of which two hundred Catholic boys went to his religion classes.

Teaching at the same school, there was Hungarian and Latin teacher Boldizsár Marton, who later achieved fame as Carmelite friar by the name of Father Marcell, and died in the fame of sanctity. Their friendship grew all the closer after two sacramental events. Father Marcell chose him as his manuductor (the priest helping the newly ordained) for his first Mass in 1930, and, many years later, the Carmelite father became Mindszenty’s regular confessor during his semi-detention at the American Embassy.

World War I had an impact on all fields of life, thus the young teacher of religion assumed an ever more active role in the life of the community. He accepted his appointment to the credit union’s management, and represented the bishop of Szombathely in the body of representatives of the town. He organized and headed the adults’ Marian Congregation, and commenced his own weekly entitled Zalamegyei Újság (Zala County Newspaper). He took an active part in the activity of the Catholic People’s Party.

On 9 February 1919, the Communist police arrested him without any grounds.

They promised to release him if he was to support the Károlyi regime and left

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Zalaegerszeg definitely, but the teacher of religion refused to accept the offer loaded with intimidation. He was put under house arrest, which lasted until 21 March, i.e. the day when the first Hungarian proletarian dictatorship was proclaimed.

From that moment, he was treated as a civil hostage and was transported to the police detention centre, and then to the courthouse. In the middle of May, Father Mindszenty was taken to the Directory of Zalaegerszeg, but as they could not incriminate him, he was released under strict conditions: he was forbidden to enter the secondary school building, banned from preaching and keeping in touch with so-called suspicious elements. However, when he returned to his parish, he was declared incorrigible, and was expelled from the territory of the county. Thus, the young priest travelled home to Csehimindszent, his village of birth.

After the fall of the proletarian dictatorship, the bishop of Szombathely was glad to comply with the request of the faithful of Egerszeg and, in autumn 1919, appointed the young teacher of religion as parish priest of the town of Zalaegerszeg. This decision caused sensation. It was highly unusual at that time that a twenty-seven-year-old priest held such a high position. The new parish priest considered the pastoral ministry as his foremost task.

In terms of faith and moral, he followed the traditional Catholic teaching, but he gladly took up the latest methods in the field of pastoral care. As a consequence of Hungary’s situation at that time, he also had to play a role in the local public life, and in that role, he supported the Christian conservative policy that called for reforms. József Mindszenty’s parish was comprised of the town of

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Zalaegerszeg and four neighbouring villages, that is, a Catholic population of approximately 15000. The parish priest knew almost everyone by name and was familiar with their living conditions.

He was always immediately informed about all the troubles that befell any of his folks, and most of the time he himself tried to help. When he could not go in person, he sent his chaplains to help. Right from the beginning, he created new posts of hospital chaplains and teachers of religion. Sharing the income of the parish, he had a large cloister and a church built for the Franciscan friars in the workers’ quarter. He took special care of the sick and the dying. Thanks to his hard work, no patient on the territory of his parish died without receiving the last sacraments. His amazing achievements in the field of pastoral care and the establishment of a new cultural centre gave a new impetus to devotional and cultural societies and religious movements. Religious zeal among the intellectuals was remarkably high compared to the rest of the country as the young parish priest regularly organized spiritual exercises and theological weeks.

His parishioners trusted him and the parish building was always open for those in need. He took care of catering for the poor in the entire county. He received the needy every Wednesday and was so generous with them that the kitchen parish often could not catch up with him, or he rid himself of his winter clothes and shoes that he would have needed in the cold. He had a nursing home built for the ill-fated elderly. Every year, he enabled around thirty-five students to continue their studies by means of financial assistance or by arranging lunch for them in families. He used to say: “The surplus of the rich is the heritage of the poor!”5

5 Cited in József Közi Horváth, Cardinal Mindszenty, 19. (page number of the Hungarian edition)

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Father Mindszenty paid special attention to the work of his parishioners and did everything at his disposal to improve the financial situation of large families. He regularly kept in touch with the trade association and the smallholders’ committee, and he also supported voluntary cooperative initiatives. He remained unselfish, did not keep things to himself, and he gave everything he had to the benefit of his parishioners. This earned him respect and genuine admiration for his pastoral work. The parish priest literally took care of the life of his parishioners, and considered it his responsibility to do everything at his disposal for their earthly and heavenly happiness. He did not regard religion as confined to private life but as an important communal value of public life.

His devoted activity as a parish priest and later as Prince Primate can only be conceived in the light of this conviction.

His bishop awarded him the title of abbot in 1924 for his merits. It is characteristic of his life as abbot-parish priest that he rarely had a holiday, and even if he had, when he did not visit his home, he spent his time conducting archival research, writing and working.

The only long trip abroad he made before the age of fifty was a pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1924. On that occasion, he visited Queen Zita, the widow of Blessed Charles IV of Hungary. He participated in the establishment of the Göcsej Museum in Zalaegerszeg, and had a large convent built for the nuns of the Notre-Dame teaching order. The female teacher’s training college and the adjoining hall of residence run by them operated until their secularization. At its reopening after the fall of Communism, the college adopted the name of József Mindszenty. His historian friends, knowing about his sphere of interest, asked him to study the life of bishop of Veszprém Márton Padányi Bíró with a view to drawing up a scientific study. In 1934, ten years after, the monograph went to press. The readers noticed many similarities between the historic figure and the author, and rumour even had it that József Mindszenty would be the successor of the late bishop of Veszprém.

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In August 1942, József Pehm considered it important to change his German-sounding name to a Hungarian one6. “Changing my name was a matter of discomfort for me. I bore my name for fifty years and with honour, I think. If people knew me, they knew me by this name. The new name is rather for my grave. God will let me work ten more years at best; this is the sunset for pen, word and struggle. I have done everything. There is an utterly abhorrent propaganda going on in Germany that tries to prove, using names to speculate about people’s origin, that our country is populated by Germans.

Based on his name, a leading official was called upon to join the Volksbund (the National Association of Germans in Hungary). I had considered the idea for a long time, and when I found it helpful to the Hungarian cause, I did it.”7 Another of his symbolic gestures took place during the increasing persecution of the Jews: he regularly walked arm in arm with the rabbi living next to the parish building.

József Mindszenty’s name became a measure of value in the county, and his fame spread throughout Hungary. “I have never met any priest or lay person who took his vocation and the duties resulting from it in such deadly earnest and fulfilled them until to the very last as József Mindszenty”8, commented one of his close colleagues.

6 Pehm 7 Private letter of József Mindszenty, dated 10 September 1942, in István Mészáros, Mindszenty-leveleskönyv (hereinafter referred to as „Leveleskönyv”), 12.

8 Comment of one of the Cardinal’s close colleagues cited in József Közi Horváth, op.cit., 122.

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“BE PATERNUS!” His work as a pastor directly affected not only Zalaegerszeg but also the entire diocese. In 1927, he carried out an extensive study putting forward a proposal concerning the solution to the educational and ecclesiastical problems of the diocese, in which he recommended the introduction of modern chaplaincies, so-called “curatiae”, in order to renew the traditional church organization. The proposal was so successful that his bishop entrusted him with its implementation. Due to his outstanding work, few people were surprised when Pope Pius XII appointed him to the episcopal see of Veszprém on 5 March 1944. Along with the acknowledgement, he also received a word of advice valid for all his life: “Be paternus!”, that is, to be more paternal, kind and indulgent in the care of his faithful. He was ordained bishop on 25 March 1944 in Esztergom.

József Mindszenty had a filial affection for Our Lady (in Hungarian known as the Great Lady of Hungary) and a special veneration for the Hungarian Saints. For his coat of arms, he adopted an image of Saint Margaret of Hungary, known for her life of expiation.

As a parish priest, his role models were Saint John of Vianney and Saint Ignatius of Loyola, and as a prelate, he regarded Saint Ambrose and Saint Gerard Sagredo with high esteem. He was grateful to Pope Innocent XI, liberator of Hungary from the Turkish occupation, and Leo XIII, the pope of social justice. With filial attachment did he love Pope Pius XII, of blessed memory, who returned his affection with fatherly benevolence throughout his life.

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In the spring of 1944, he made longer pastoral tours in the counties of Somogy, Zala, and finally Veszprém. In mid-1945, he visited Somogy county and other areas that had been devastated by the war, eighty-eight parishes in all. Despite the ongoing war and his long detention by the Arrow Cross Party, he addressed his flock in eight pastoral letters in 1944 and in nine letters in 1945. In April 1944, he entrusted two episcopal commissioners with the pastoral care of the refugees. He promoted the apostolic movement of the sick, encouraging them to offer their sufferings to God for relieving the devastation caused by the war. Evaluating the needs of the population of his diocese, he decided to divide 7,000 of the 11,000 acres of arable land of the diocese into allotments for smallholders and to use the income for establishing schools and new parishes, depending on his faithful’s needs. The government did not allow this plan to be implemented because of the ongoing war.

Witnessing the devastation of the country, József Mindszenty embarked on writing a courageous memorandum of historical value, which he handed over to the representative of the Arrow Cross government, at the service of the Nazi Germany, in Buda, on behalf of the bishops of Western Hungary, signed by most of them: “Fully aware of their responsibilities as members of the Hungarian hierarchy, the undersigned bishops of Western Hungary hereby address an appeal through the premier to those who hold the fate of the country in their hands. We request that the still undevastated sections of Western Hungary be not turned into a battleground. Should this happen, it would mean that all the encounters of the retreating armies would take place on this last remaining bit of undespoiled Hungarian territory. If Western Hungary is destroyed by war, the last section of the Hungarian fatherland and the last hope of Hungary’s recovery in the future will be lost.”9 9

From Memoirs, 252-253.

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As a result of his support for the Jews and the above-mentioned memorandum, on 27 November 1944 the bishop of Veszprém was arrested by the Arrow Cross authorities based on feigned charges along with his seminarists and their teachers who were trying to defend him. Due to the approaching front line, the large group of priests was transported to the Sopronkőhida prison on 23 December. To prevent his seminarists from getting depressed, he suggested that they learn and present choral works for Christmas.

He earned the admiration of his seminarists and other prisoners by the peace of mind and strength of soul he maintained despite the inhumane conditions.

After the German invasion, Hungary was occupied by the SovietRussian army until the spring of 1945. Under the guardianship of the Soviet army and the Communist leaders returning from Moscow, a provisional government was set up. On Easter Monday, Prince Primate Jusztinián Cardinal Serédi was laid to rest. Martyr and bishop of Győr Blessed Vilmos Apor, defender of the women,

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died in the morning of the same day. Bishop József Mindszenty was also released on Easter Monday. During his short episcopate in Veszprém, he established thirty-four new parishes, eight Catholic schools and three boarding schools. On 20 August 1945, on the feast of Saint Stephen, Hungary’s first king, he offered his diocese to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

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PRINCE PRIMATE OF HUNGARY As soon as Central Europe’s fate was evidently linked up with the Soviet rule during the Second World War, Pope Pius XII endeavoured to appoint prelates at the head of the 70 million Catholics who had opposed the German invasion and National Socialism. Their merits and their personality ensured that they would be loyal during the communist dictatorship and persecution, and would firmly defend the faithful. Such guidelines determined the appointment of Archbishop of Prague Josef Beran, Polish Primate Stefan Wyszynski and Prince Primate József Mindszenty. Pius XII signed the papal bull on 2 October.

József Mindszenty’s inaugural took place on 7 October in the Primatial Basilica of Esztergom.

The most memorable words of his speech were the following: “Let us become a people of prayer! Once we learn to pray again, we will possess an inexhaustible source of strength and faith. Let us keep confessing our hope with resolution. With the help of God our Father and of the Virgin Mother Mary, I will strive to become the conscience of our people. Rome and my own country: those are my guiding stars.”10

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7 October 1945, in Margit Beke, Eg yházam és hazám I., 16.

The Hungarian people welcomed their new primate with great expectation. The 79th Archbishop of Esztergom was received by the episcopate as primate in the historical sense of the term, and he exercised his rights and duties deriving from his office, that is, his pastoral responsibility for the entire country, with full conscience.

At that time, around half of the country’s adult population, i.e. millions of people, was practising Catholic. As archbishop, he wanted to serve their spiritual lives. He remained first of all a pastor. He kept in touch with all the priests of the country and attended their assemblies regularly. He took every opportunity to visit the faithful and preach the gospel. He visited remote villages where no prelate had ever been before. He fostered a deep life of piety and launched a movement of prayer and reparation. His life was the best example of reparation.

In the Primatial Palace of Esztergom, he led a quasi-monastic life and devoted himself to prayer and work. He did not need much sleep, only 4-5 hours, so he also worked during the nights. His food was of the simplest type, and he regularly distributed most of the food supply of the primatial palace among the poor of the neighbourhood. Apart from what was prescribed, the prelate also took upon personal mortifications and fasts, and kept to his former habit of working in an unheated room in winter and sleeping on the floor. Besides being free from any kind of bad habits, he was totally unconcerned about appearances. He always wore a shabby cassock at home. Office hours lasted from eight to one in the morning, and three to five in the afternoon. He was interested in everything and wanted to know about everything. He was an idealist and he did everything with the truth and good in view. “He received any visitor, immediately if needed, and accepted many invitations to appear in public in order to be able to keep in direct contact with all the

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social strata. During his three years as archbishop, he almost travelled around the whole country. He had a huge audience. Some of his outspoken remarks spread from mouth to mouth.”11 As prelate of the country, his duties included attempting to relieve the sufferings of the Hungarians in a country devastated by the war. Already on his first visit to Rome, he informed Pope Pius XII about the destitute condition of the Hungarian people. He also warned the Hungarians living in Hungary: “foreign help is not everything; we have to exert ourselves, and those owning two gowns should give one to those who don’t have any; and the one who has a slice of bread, should give half to the have-nots.”12 He asked the rural population to help the capital by temporarily putting up and feeding children.

József Mindszenty always supported the ill-treated and persecuted people. On behalf of the episcopate, he asked the Allied Control Commission in October 1945 to let Hungarian prisoners of war come home. He summoned his priests to cater for the spiritual needs of the internees, and console and give assistance to the families of the persecuted. He used to say: “Let’s fight for democracy but without forgetting about man in the meantime!” The Cardinal was virtually the only person who spoke up against the measures afflicting the German-speaking inhabitants. He warned the authorities not to do any injustice within the country that could rightfully be detrimental to the Hungarians on the other side of the border.

After 1945, the government under communist pressure started a deliberate and planned campaign against freedom of religion, the dignity of the church and its role in public life. All Catholic associations were dissolved before 1946. No religious dailies were given permission. Many priests and lay Catholics were displaced, interned or imprisoned without real reasons, with the only aim of 11 Béla Ispánki, A halálra keresett bíboros in István Mészáros, Ki volt Mindszenty?, 61-62.

12 At the meeting of the Central Commission of Budapest Parishes, 16 November 1945, in Margit Beke, Eg yházam és hazám I., 42.

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intimidating their communities.

The objective was clear: “beat up the pastor so as to disperse the flock”.

The Prince Primate pointed out in several statements that the Hungarian Catholic Church welcomed democracy, acknowledged the republic and did not aspire to return to the old system; it only “aspires to be allowed to work freely in every aspect, to develop its institutions and to be assured that the faithful will not be deprived of human rights”.13 When he was obliged to criticize the gradual destruction of the country and the rampant terror of the political police, the communists accused him of being engaged in politics. The Primate denied the accusation quoting Péter Pázmány: “No one can prevent me from freely expressing my views on the nation’s public concern. I am obliged to protect the rights and freedom of the country.”14 It was under such circumstances that Pope Pius XII said to him the following prophetic words in Hungarian while placing the cardinal’s hat on József Mindszenty’s head in 1946: “Long live Hungary! You will be the first out of the 32 (new cardinals) who will have to experience the purple coloured martyrdom!”

13 Cited in József Közi Horváth, op.cit., 51.

14 Cited in József Közi Horváth, op.cit., 51.

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HIS LOYALTY AND RESISTANCE On Soviet pattern, a separate group of the political police dealt with the fight against the activity of “Mindszenty and the reactionary circle around him”. A complete network of spies, who started to collect reports on him as early as 1945, surrounded him. His letters were opened at the post office and his phone was tapped. His visitors were photographed and recorded on a list. One of the female officials of the Archiepiscopal Office was forced to give regular reports, and the police were also informed in detail about the sessions of the conference of bishops. To refute the charge of being engaged in politics, Cardinal Mindszenty consistently stuck to the idea that “the Church, everywhere and every time, is entitled to exercise its right to express its opinion over the political phenomena when personal freedoms and the salvation of souls are at stake”.15 A completely different world opened up before him when he participated at the Marian Congress in Ottawa, Canada, in 1947.

This is what made him proclaim the year of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be celebrated from 15 August 1947 to 8 August 1948. He put special emphasis on reparation even before the Hungarian holy year, with the aim of balancing increasing crime with prayer 15

10 October 1974, in Leveleskönyv, 103-104.

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and sacrifice and preventing the people from losing all their hope and submitting themselves to the devastating despotism. His initiative strengthened Christian consciousness and led to the prosperity of religious life all around the country. So much so that the communists termed the year of prayer counter-revolution and disrupted or impeded several events using police violence.

Hostility, just like compromise, was not Mindszenty’s field. Many people asked him why he did not look for an agreement with the Communist Party. The Cardinal’s answer, full of realism, was clear: “under such circumstances, it would prove aimless and impossible as it was in other countries of the Communist Bloc, because the ideological minority striving for power does not look for an agreement, they only want to conquer and destroy the Church.”16 In spring 1948, the police state, standing firm in its position after the rigged elections, put the nationalization of religious schools on its agenda and conducted a comprehensive campaign against the Church. Time was ripe for the Communist Party to destroy the fragmented independence and dignity of the Catholic Church. Their primary target was the person of the faithful Cardinal.

“Every man of common sense in Hungary knew that a lawsuit awaited Cardinal Mindszenty. In mid-October, the Ministry of Internal Affairs gave the following command to the Lord Lieutenants of the counties: send protesting telegrams to the Prime Minister on behalf of the inhabitants.

Protest against the ‘reactionary’ politics of Cardinal Mindszenty. Demand his removal or punishment!”17 The Prince Primate was anxious for the faithful and did not want anyone to lose his job, therefore, he proclaimed that the Catholic faithful could sign the protesting documents as that they did not do so of their own free will. Leading politicians tried to discredit him in their statements on a weekly basis. “They envied Mindszenty because he was of a simple farmer origin, 16 15 February 1948, in Margit Beke, Eg yházam és hazám III., 23-24.

17 Béla Ispánki, op.cit., 109.

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he was popular among every stratum of the Hungarian society, and he did not have moral deficiencies that could make him an easy target. They resented the Cardinal’s firm resistance during the Nazi occupation, his imprisonment in Sopronkőhida and the assistance he humanely provided for the persecuted.

A great majority of the communist leaders hardly deserve any credit for their resistance unless we consider their flight to the Soviet Union as such.”18 The leaders of the Communist Party went as far as drafting the bill of indictment: “The policy of tolerance, which was lenient towards spies, traitors, currency smugglers, Habsburg loyalists, fascists and adherents of the old system, all being disguised as priests or cardinals, is over! Unless the church does something about Mindszenty in the following few weeks, we will take the step!”19 The Cardinal was aware of the imminent danger of persecution.

Although he had the chance, he did not escape his fate. He was spiritually prepared for everything that awaited him. In his last message to his priests, he wrote: “Always and everywhere, nothing can happen to us except what the Lord commands or permits.

Not a sparrow falls without his knowledge.

The world can take a great deal from us, but never our faith in Jesus Christ. We have to stand firm! ‘Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.’ Let us pray, pastor and flock, incessantly for each other. Let the hope of eternal life, promised by the Lord, brighten before our eyes.”20

18 Béla Ispánki, op.cit., 63.

19 Quoting secretary general of the Communist Party Mátyás Rákosi, in István Mészáros, Pannonia Sacra, 186.

20 26 December 1948, in Margit Beke, Eg yházam és hazám III., 165-166.

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The Cardinal invited his mother for Christmas. He thought of relieving her pain over losing her son. On the second day of Christmas in 1948, on the day of Martyr St. Stephen, the Cardinal left for his last walk in the garden of the Primatial Palace of Esztergom. His four-legged guard, an Alsatian, accompanied him all along. Back to the palace, the dog accompanied his master upstairs and standing on its two rear legs snuggled up to him as if it wanted to say goodbye. That same night the black, curtained car arrived and József Cardinal Mindszenty’s tribulations started. The seminarists in Esztergom received the news of his arrest with bitterness, and they decided to embark on a ceaseless prayer for the release of their Primate-Archbishop.

The all-day and all-night-long prayer lasted for two weeks with enthusiastic seminarists taking it in turns, but, as the long awaited release did not come, the superiors of the seminary asked the students to resign themselves to the inevitable and give up the strenuous campaign of prayer. Decades had passed before the participants found out that József Mindszenty had suffered severe torture for two weeks at Andrássy street 60 (known as the House of Terror) that he only survived by miracle.

The counsels of both the defence and the prosecution tried to put facts together to prove that there had been no police violence and the defence was free to act. No mitigating circumstance was found, although their enumeration was compulsory during the lawsuit. A legal hearing of witnesses and enumeration of

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facts, which would have verified the accused, did not take place.

The “defence” only referred to one single mitigating circumstance, namely the forced or doctored confessions. The sentence was passed: life imprisonment. The communists decided not to execute him because they did not want him to “become a martyr”.

In the meantime, demonstrations took place in support of József Mindszenty and the freedom of Hungary all over the world. Three hundred thousand people marched to St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

The Holy See excommunicated everyone who participated in the denigration of the Cardinal. The un General Assembly designated his arrest and unlawful conviction as international legal violence.

Béla Ispánki, another defendant of the show trial, summarized the lesson he drew from the lawsuit as follows: “In the first three centuries after our Church was born, the Roman Empire considered the Christians to be anti-state conspirators. It organized massacres of varying intensity. I am asking where the Roman Empire has gone by now.

Where are the oracles who were sure about the annihilation of the Church? Therefore, I can see no reason to worry about the destiny of the Universal Church. And as for our destiny: this is only a short episode in the life of Christianity. We believe that the destiny of the Church is determined by a higher power. In his plan, the Mindszenty trial also plays a role. Even if it is a modest piece of a mosaic, it has its role. And our role is simple: giving testimony, at the price of great efforts if needed, in favour of certain truths without which we cannot live as man on the Earth.”21 21

Béla Ispánki, op.cit., 135.

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József Cardinal Mindszenty’s sacrifice was not offered in vain. As he promised in his inaugural speech, he strengthened among his flock the Christian faith, patriotic feelings, loyalty to the Church and the sense of belonging to the Hungarian nation. Even if the government’s violent measures hindered the open manifestation of such values, the majority of the families remained loyal.

Mindszenty spent the majority of his detention in Budapest, in the prison located in Conti Street. Due to the inhumane treatment, he fell seriously ill, lost almost 40 kilograms, and his life was in danger.

The communist leaders were looking forward to his natural death, which he himself could sense by the way he was treated.

In 1955, due to his poor health conditions, he was transported to Püspökszentlászló, then on to Felsőpetény, where he was kept under the strictest house arrest. In the meantime, the party-state had permanently taken control of the Hungarian Catholic Church, nor could the conference of bishops preserve its independence. In spring 1956, remission was offered to Prince Primate Mindszenty under severe conditions: provided he agreed to cooperate with the party-state, he could have resumed his false office and could have celebrated the mass on the centenary of the consecration of the Esztergom Basilica. Nevertheless, he chose the first of the two options of “death in prison or liberty at the price of ignoble compromise”22.

22 Memoirs, 411.

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RELEASE On 23 October 1956, the Cardinal heard the news of the youth demonstration on the radio but he did not receive more news for a week. After years of waiting, in the first uncensored episcopal letter of the Hungarian Church, bishop of Pécs Ferenc Virág demanded the termination of anticlerical violence and that “József Cardinal Mindszenty, who was condemned unjustly, should be released, offered complete restitution and should be allowed to resume his archiepiscopal seat after eight years of suffering”.23 The delegation of Felsőpetény paid a ceremonial visit to the Cardinal on 30 October, and the guards did not prevent them this time. Later on, the patrols of the armoured barracks of Rétság arrived and offered their assistance on his journey to Budapest the following day. On his way, the people of the villages and towns greeted him with rains of flowers and peal of chimes. A crowd of people awaited him in front of the Primatial Palace in Buda.

Everyone wanted to see and hear him, delegations arrived one after the other to meet him. He was given four free days until dawn on 4 November.

He negotiated with the Church delegations about the situation of the Catholic Church; he asked the representatives of relief organizations for aid for Hungary, informed the inquirers of the domestic and international media about the situation of the country and appealed to the general public through them. He asked not only for financial assistance but, in the first place, for prayers for the Hungarian people, who – as he said – had yet to fight. On 3 November, at 8 pm, he made a radio appeal to the nation in the transitory radio station operating in the Parliament building, as the radio headquarters had been ruined by shots and were out of use: 23 Cited in István Mészáros, „Állok Istenért, eg yházért, hazáért”, 122.

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“This was an unprecedented war of independence with the youth leading our nation. The war of independence broke out because the nation wanted to decide how to live. It wanted to be free to govern its fate, administer the state and dispose of its products. A new election, free from abuse, is needed, allowing for the participation of every party. Foreign mediators should supervise the elections. I am standing aloof from and – according to my position – above party politics. Thus, I warn every Hungarian not to let party strife and dissension take over after these beautiful October days of unity. This country at present lacks a lot of things but certainly not parties and party leaders.

Talking about politics is of secondary importance at the moment: we need to ensure the existence of the nation and our daily bread.” The closing sentence was deleted from the recording: “We, who are on the lookout and wish to facilitate the common good of the entire nation, trust Providence and not in vain.”24 At dawn on 4 November, having received news about the impending Soviet-Russian attack on the capital, Zoltán Tildy summoned the Cardinal to the Parliament to discuss the situation with the members of the national government. When the prelate arrived, not a minister was in his place, therefore, the negotiations were cancelled and, around seven o’clock, he decided to return to the Primatial Palace in Buda. But his car did not turn up at the entrance.

Lieutenant Colonel Kálmán Nagy appeared instead and warned him:

24 The entire text of the radio appeal is quoted in Gergely Kovács, Isten Embere – Szemtől szembe Mindszenty bíborossal, 74-76.

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“Your Eminence, the Soviet tanks have lined up in front of the Parliament for attack. If a fight ensues, your life will be in danger and the country needs Your Eminence. Please, follow me to a safer place!”

“But where?”, asked the Cardinal.

“To the American Embassy – occurred to me on the spot, on divine inspiration”, remembered the Lieutenant Colonel. The Cardinal’s secretary supported the idea and, after a momentary hesitation, the Cardinal also agreed.

After the repression of the war of independence, Pope Pius XII stated in his Encyclical letter published on 5 November that “the blood of the Hungarian people cries out to God!” Several prelates from America to Manila expressed similar ideas. Cardinal Archbishop Montini – who later became Pope Paul VI – held the cross of the subjugated Hungary in a candlelight procession at night in the streets of Milan to express the sympathy of the Italian people.

“One day during the war of independence someone said about him: the great prelate became a saint during his imprisonment. In his forced seclusion, his life was filled with prayer. He wanted to build a new country to the glory of God but God wanted him to do more and drove him through the Way of the Cross. This is not the time of creation as it is the miracle of the passion that is renewed in the friends of Jesus.”25

25

László Varga, Mindszenty egyénisége in István Mészáros, Ki volt Mindszenty?, 40.

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SEMI-DETENTION AND EXILE The Primate thought of his stay at the Embassy as a temporary necessity. He took it for granted that the civilized world would not leave Hungary in the lurch. His notes published under the title of Napi jeg yzetek (Daily Notes) provide a true picture of his activities, ideas and even dreams during his stay at the Embassy.

His mental alertness and his interest in the Church and world affairs did not slacken. He began to write his memoirs so that he could draw the attention of the world, through his personality, to his oppressed country and its persecuted Church. He learnt English on his own and became the priest of the Embassy’s staff.

He celebrated Mass, heard confessions and administered the

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sacraments. The saying that the American Embassy in Hungary was the only diplomatic mission in the world where a cardinal catered for the spiritual needs of the staff was true. During office hours, so as not to disturb work at the Embassy, he stayed in a section of the building that was reserved for him. Some American official often accompanied him on his short evening walks. He was by that time free to contact them, unlike the Hungarian staff. His table and his altar were always decorated with flowers that he received from the officials or their family members. He did not watch television, and rarely and only with good reason did he ask for film projections. Besides writing, he spent his time preparing his homilies for the Sunday masses, keeping up an extended correspondence and receiving guests, when he had the opportunity. His visitors were strictly selected.

His mother and his confessor were allowed to visit him four times a year. On 12 June 1965, golden jubilee of his priestly ordination, the Archbishop of Vienna brought him a golden chalice, a present from Pope Paul VI. The sad background of József Mindszenty’s stay at the Embassy was that, as time passed, all the powers concerned were trying to find solution for the “Mindszenty case” only with their own interests in mind. His leaving the Embassy was first prevented with all means and later urged at all costs. Every person concerned was aware that Mindszenty was loath to leave the country due to his emotional attachment and for the sake of the loyal priests and the faithful. He even considered the possibility of walking out of the embassy and succumbing to the communist authorities, but he fortunately declined this plan. His destiny was finally decided

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when he overtly asked the President of the United States in a letter whether he could remain at the Embassy, and he was given the following short and quick answer: “Resign yourself to your fate!”.26 He finally left for Rome on 28 September 1971. The Cardinal, before getting into the car of the Viennese Nuncio, blessed his country. He did the same when he crossed the border and looked back on his country behind the iron curtain. He travelled by air from Vienna to Rome. Pope Paul VI received him in the Vatican City with great affection and provided temporary residence for him in the papal suite of St. John’s Tower. The next day, the Primate visited the grave of Pope Pius XII: “He knelt down in front of the grave of ‘his Pope’ and was engrossed in prayer for long. It was a great moment: a new spiritual encounter of the deceased Pope and the exiled Cardinal.”27

26 Cf. Gábor Adriányi, A Vatikán keleti politikája és Mag yarország, 97. and relevant parts of István Mészáros, Mindszenty és az „Ostpolitik” 27 Emil Csonka, A száműzött bíboros, 17.

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At the papal mass inaugurating the Synod of Bishops, Paul VI greeted him with the following words: “Among Us today is Our venerable brother, Cardinal József Mindszenty, archbishop of Esztergom, who has just recently come to Rome after many years of enforced absence. He is a guest whom We have awaited with longing, who in concelebrating with Us as a glorious symbol of the living unity between the Hungarian Church and the Apostolic See, a unity that has existed for a thousand years. But he is also a symbol for the spiritual bond with those brothers who are prevented from maintaining normal relations with Us. He is a symbol of unshakeable strength rooted in faith and in selfless devotion to the Church. He has proved this first of all by his tireless activity and alert love, then by prayer and long suffering. Let us praise the Lord and together say a reverent, cordial Ave to this exiled and highly honoured archbishop!”

On 23 October, József Cardinal Mindszenty thought it was time to move to his permanent home in the Pázmáneum college in Vienna, owned by the Archbishops of Esztergom. There he gathered colleagues around him, and evaluated their reports on the cultural and ecclesiastical situation of the Hungarian communities scattered around the world. He received countless letters and many people called on him personally, which made it easier and quicker to collect the information. He knew about his priest brothers in exile and followed their work with attention.

He was planning to establish a Hungarian seminary in the Pázmáneum. Many of the imprisoned priests, who had already been forgotten by everyone, were released due to his intercession.

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The Cardinal’s daily routine in the Pázmáneum resembled his routine in the Primatial Palace in Esztergom. After lunch and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, which was an essential element of his day, he withdrew into his study: “Daily meditation, that is, contemplating the mysteries of God in complete silence was an everyday need for him – and possibly the only rest he had during the day. This was the characteristic silence of the man who loves God, the silence of the soul.

Cardinal Mindszenty was capable of excluding the clamour of the world from the routine of his life. Knowing this patient external and interior silence that dominated his everyday life, we can understand how and why he could endure the loneliness of his imprisonment and the depressing solitude at the American Embassy. One could nearly sense as he naturally, patiently and quietly carried the yoke of God, thus giving so much peace to others.”28 During meals, his company was rather cheerful. At three o’clock sharp, he set out for a half-an-hour walk for his health, mostly in the company of his secretary. Afterwards, he sometimes drove into town to call on some Hungarian priest who fell ill or was recovering in hospital.

In the afternoons, he worked on his Memoirs and speeches, and this he continued after dinner until late at night. His fellow priests organized a modest but intimate celebration for his eightieth birthday in 1972. The Pope and almost all the members of the College of Cardinals greeted the Primate on his jubilee.

The two Polish cardinals, Primate Stefan Wyszyński and Archbishop of Krakow Karol Wojtyla, who later became John Paul II, were the first to express their best wishes.

28

Tibor Mészáros, Akit övéi be nem fogadtak, 209-210.

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THE APOSTLE OF HUNGARIANS IN EXILE Seeing that the Holy See could not appoint auxiliary bishops for the pastoral care of the Hungarians living abroad, József Mindszenty decided to set out to visit and strengthen the Hungarian communities scattered in the world. He welcomed the provision of Vatican Council II that allowed the celebration of Mass in the vernacular because he considered it an opportunity for cultivating the mother tongue and, as a result, having a deeper life of piety. He visited a dozen countries, celebrated Mass, and participated in different programmes in more than fifty towns during his long pastoral tours. “I did not find it difficult to travel, hold ecclesiastical office, press conferences, meet delegations, families or private individuals and discuss a wide range of national and pastoral problems, because after 23 years of coerced isolation, intensively being engaged in my official activities and being in missionary touch with the people and the world filled my heart with happiness.”29 His pastoral aim was to strengthen his flock in their faith and sense of Hungarianness, encourage them to preserve the Hungarian language and culture, to stay united and take responsibility for and care of each other. It was not only the Hungarian communities that gave the Cardinal a hearty welcome.

In May 1974, when he visited the Hungarians living in America, the United States Congress put the discussion about his personality and mission on the agenda for four subsequent days. The 29 Memoirs, 491. (page number of the Hungarian edition)

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speakers praised his devoted work in the field of human rights, human dignity and the right of peoples to self-determination and compared the Hungarian Cardinal to the great American champions of freedom. The report on the Cardinal’s activity published in the journal of Russian emigrants is a sign of exceptional esteem: “There is hardly any educated man in our age who would not know the name of Cardinal Mindszenty. This man is a symbol, a legend, history in one person. In our estimation, Cardinal Mindszenty is the chosen person of the Hungarian people.”30 This man over eighty covered in his travels nearly one hundred thousand kilometres by car, train and plane to visit and strengthen the Hungarians. He belied every prejudice against him: he did not take cover in a monastery, he did not flaunt his sufferings, nor did he seek limelight.

30 Emil Csonka, op.cit., 207.

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In February 1974, Pope Paul VI was compelled to make one of the most painful decisions of his pontificate when he legally declared the archiepiscopal seat of Esztergom vacant. In Hungary, the communist propaganda celebrated the “sacking” of József Mindszenty while the free world was perplexed by what had happened. For pastoral reasons, the Holy Father had the choice of two evils, thus the decree did not use the term “dismissal” but that of “making vacant the archiepiscopal seat”. József Mindszenty, accepting the Pope’s decision, ceased to use his former titles. The governmental decision of Paul VI became the victoriously carried cross of their common tribulation.

The Cardinal’s secretary recorded in his recollections that “in the morning when his dismissal was announced, all that Cardinal Mindszenty laconically, like a typical Hungarian man, said was: ‘Poor Pope, I have caused him a lot of trouble!’

I am an ear-witness, and I am grateful to God for having heard it.”31 One cannot write the history of the Church of the 20th century without one specific book: the Memoirs of Cardinal Mindszenty, published in 1974.

This 500-page-long book is the result of an outstanding work. He did not accuse anyone in his Memoirs, he just told about his experiences to stir the world’s public and warn them of the inhumane and anti-God nature of the communist ideology as well as to inform them about the sufferings of the Hungarians. The content of his book is not only captivating but it is filled with sincere hope and deep confidence in God.

31

Tibor Mészáros, op.cit., 245.

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The timing of his pastoral work in exile was providential. In the temporary crisis following Vatican Council II, his obedience to the Pope, his pastoral attitude and his mere presence silenced the disputing parties by the benevolence with which he “received and propagated the rapprochement of the Hungarian faithful, be they Calvinist, Lutheran, Unitarian, Jewish or else. His attitude proves how much he understood the demands and the spirit of that age. Naturally, while trying to integrate the different denominations, he also followed his heart – his Hungarian heart.”32 “Be more paternal!” With these words he received the call to sanctity thirty years earlier. The thirty years of his work as bishop and cardinal constituted the implementation of this spiritual programme. He wrote in his last pastoral letter: “Since I was obliged to leave my country, I have been traversing the world searching for the Hungarians scattered all around the globe. What is the use of these visits? My dear exiled Hungarian brethren, I have been doing it to breathe faith and hope into the souls when they are already dispirited.

Let us find each other in the diaspora as we are not only ‘guards’ but also brothers of each other.”33

32 Emil Csonka, op.cit., 272.

33 Last pastoral letter of József Cardinal Mindszenty, dated 21 April 1975, Caracas, Venezuela, in József Mindszenty, Hirdettem az Igét, 300-302.

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FLAMING TORCH On 26 April 1975, at the end of his pastoral tour in South America, which turned out to be the last one, the Archbishop of Bogotá turned to him with the following words of farewell: “Stay always as young as you are!” Cardinal Mindszenty answered with the following Latin student song: “Gaudeamus igitur juvenes dum sumus!”, “Then let us be merry as long as we are young!”

However, when he returned to Vienna, he was already ill. The operation performed in the Hospital of the Brothers Hospitallers was successful. His exhausted heart did not, however, endure another trial. At 2.15 pm on 6 May 1975, he breathed his last and his earthly life came to an end. His last word were: “Sum paratus” – “I am ready”. Pope Paul VI recalled his memory with the following words: “We are mourning because death has put out a torch which has lit the Church in the last decades.”34 The requiem was celebrated by Cardinal Archbishop Franz König in the Cathedral of Vienna. In his sermon, he called Cardinal Mindszenty a martyr “who endured with miraculous resistance all spiritual and physical torments while he stayed loyal to his Church and people.”35 One single wreath ornamented the bier, with a short inscription: “From your grateful Hungarian people!”

34 Cited in József Közi Horváth, op.cit., 104.

35 Cited in István Mészáros, „Állok Istenért, eg yházért, hazáért”, 212.

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In the sanctuary of Our Lady in Mariazell, the homily in German was given by Premonstratensian monk Werenfried van Straaten, who emphasized the common hope that the miracles and signs that God would send through the intercession of Cardinal Mindszenty to save his Church would further his official canonization. The Cardinal’s return to his heavenly home shed new light on all the words he uttered in the last few years: “The deep crisis of the Church today should not frighten us! Every individual and every generation of all the nations should struggle for their faith like Jacob did with the angel of

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God. God is young. The future is His. He can call forth the new, the young and the tomorrow in the individuals and nations. Therefore, there is no room for despair.”36 Pilgrims started to flow to the grave of the Cardinal who was commonly regarded as a saint in his life. Flowers and wreaths covered the grave and the national colours soon almost concealed the wrought iron fence of the Saint Ladislaus chapel in Mariazell, which was just a temporary resting place for the deceased.

The preparations for the cause of canonization of the Prince Primate were begun as early as 1976. They were conducted by the enthusiastic Hungarian parish priest in New Brunswick, Franciscan Father Julián Füzér. In 1986, the Mindszenty Foundation asked the competent bishop based on the location of the death, Cardinal Archbishop Hans Hermann Groer of Vienna, to commence the process. In 1988, Salesian monk János Szőke was appointed as postulator of the cause. In 1988, the documents, written praises and reports of an increasing number of favours received through his intercession were forwarded to the Office for the Causes of Saints in Vienna.

The first official commemoration of Cardinal Mindszenty in Hungary was held in February 1990 in Esztergom. On 18 May of the same year, the Hungarian court declared his show trial void and unfounded. In the sequence of reburials accompanying the change of regime following the fall of Communism, one was of special importance: the return of the metal coffin of József Mindszenty to Hungary and its laying in the archiepiscopal crypt of the Primatial Cathedral on 4 May 1991. A foreign correspondent reported the following on the festive occasion: “I have read it many times that even silence can speak. Now I am convinced. Young and old stood by the street all along. They were waiting to greet us. Or rather, the person we 36 His message to the president of the organizing committee and, through him, to all the exiled Hungarians after his first tour in North America, in József Közi Horváth, op. cit., 109-111.

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Photo: M贸nika T眉nde Domokos

accompanied: their archbishop, their prelate. When our car slowed down, we could clearly see the depth of their look. There was no poster, no leaflet along the street. There was no sign or slogan painted on the forehead of the people, nevertheless, seeing the faces I understood: ‘we remember…’ ”.37 On 16 August 1991, when Saint Pope John Paul II arrived in Esztergom he first visited the grave of the Prince Primate. Since then, every year in early May a Mindszenty pilgrimage has been organized in Esztergom.

The process of canonization of the Servant of God József Mindszenty started on 19 March 1994, on the feast of Saint Joseph.

Having gathered several thousand pages of historical sources, documents, testimonies, historians’ and theologians’ expert opinions, the bishop concerned closed the investigation in 1996 and forwarded the documents to the Office of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Currently the multiple-stage evaluation of the collected evidence about the life of the Cardinal, confessor of the faith, is under way in Rome.

Taking a look at the more than 31 years of work of József Mindszenty as a bishop and cardinal, interesting figures mirror his expiatory life offered for the Church and the Hungarian nation. Taking his episcopal ministry for 100 symbolic days, he spent 74.5 days in custody, of which 26.5 days imprisoned by the Arrow Cross Party and the communists, whereas 48 days in semi-custody at the American Embassy.

All in all, 13.5 days were left for his pastoral work in Hungary and 12 for taking care of the Hungarians living in exile. Eleven months before his death, in the parish church of Saint Stephen of Hungary in Los Angeles, he made the following remarks recalling the memories of his long life full of struggles: “If I had to start my life anew, I would start it as I did. And even if I clearly saw its consequences, I would do the same.”38 37 Cited in Pál Gerő Bozsóky, Gyorsfénykép Mindszenty József bíboros-érsek hazatéréséről in Mindszenty József emlékezete, 119.

38 Homily pronounced on 14 June 1974, cited in József Közi Horváth, op.cit., 120.

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Photo: Attila Mudrรกk

If someone pronounces the name “Mindszenty”, we only think of him. His name has become one of the biggest names, since surnames without a Christian name can only denote one person.

However, the reason why Mindszenty’s name has a pleasant ring is that his owner made good use of the values of his life. Therefore, his person and the example of his life are just as up-to-date as before.

“Be paternus!”, Pope Pius XII told him. And he was. He was aware of what he could expect from himself and what he could hope from God. He could feel who counted on him, who expected him to help, to whom he could give something good from what he had received as a gift. His whole life was guided by the passionate pursuit of good; he never wanted to do harm to anyone. He was Catholic and Hungarian from the bottom of his heart, a man who was ever faithful and unchanging: “I give thanks to God for allowing me to be a humble instrument in his hands.”39 Therefore, the example of his life is still inspiring and genuine, offering a rich spiritual heritage to his numerous admirers and to the more than one million praying Hungarians organized at his request as prelate. The inscription on his grave in Esztergom, ever surrounded by prayers and candles, proclaims: “József Mindszenty: the most faithful pastor in times of persecution.”40

39 Letter of József Mindszenty, dated 14 October 1971, in Leveleskönyv, 58.

40 Fidelissimus in tribulatione pastor – the motto and full Latin text of the inscription was formulated by Gáspár Ladocsi, auxiliary bishop emeritus of Esztergom-Budapest

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Almighty God, you chose József Cardinal Mindszenty to be a faithful bishop and pastor till his death in times of persecution, and a living testimony of truth and charity.

We pray you to grant your faithful the joy of soon honouring him among the saints of our Church.

Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Those who obtain favours through the intercession of Cardinal Mindszenty may notify the Office of the Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest: 1014 Budapest, Úri u. 62.

The Mindszenty Foundation gratefully accepts your donations given through its website: www.fidelissimuspastor.hu www.mindszenty.katolikus.hu