𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟔 • 𝐒𝐭. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐲

𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓

The Church is universal, but its expression is always affected—for good or ill—by local culture. There are no “generic” Christians; there are Mexican Christians, Polish Christians, Filipino Christians. This fact is evident in the life of Stephen, national hero and spiritual patron of Hungary.

Born a pagan, he was baptized around the age of 10, together with his father, chief of the Magyars, a group who migrated to the Danube area in the ninth century. At 20, he married Gisela, sister to the future emperor, Saint Henry. When he succeeded his father, Stephen adopted a policy of Christianization of the country for both political and religious reasons. He suppressed a series of revolts by pagan nobles and welded the Magyars into a strong national group. He asked the pope to provide for the Church’s organization in Hungary—and also requested that the pope confer the title of king upon him. He was crowned on Christmas day in 1001.

Stephen established a system of tithes to support churches and pastors and to relieve the poor. Out of every 10 towns one had to build a church and support a priest. He abolished pagan customs with a certain amount of violence, and commanded all to marry, except clergy and religious. He was easily accessible to all, especially the poor.

𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑

𝘈𝘭𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘺 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘊𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩, 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘚𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳. 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘯.