József Mindszenty | |
|---|---|
 Formal portrait, 1945 | |
| Archdiocese | Esztergom |
| Appointed | 2 October 1945 |
| Term ended | 19 December 1973 |
| Predecessor | Jusztinián György Serédi |
| Successor | László Lékai |
| Other post | Cardinal Priest ofSanto Stefano al Monte Celio (1946–1974) |
| Previous post |
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| Orders | |
| Ordination | 12 June 1915 by János Mikes |
| Consecration | 25 March 1944 by Jusztinián György Serédi |
| Created cardinal | 18 February 1946 byPope Pius XII |
| Rank | Cardinal priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | József Pehm (1892-03-29)March 29, 1892 |
| Died | 6 May 1975(1975-05-06) (aged 83) |
| Buried | Esztergom Basilica |
| Parents |
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| Motto | Pannonia Sacra |
| Signature |  |
| Coat of arms |  |
| Sainthood | |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church |
| Styles of József Mindszenty | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Religious style | His Eminence |
| Posthumous style | Venerable |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Esztergom |
Ordination history of József Mindszenty | |||||||||||||||||||||
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József Mindszenty (Hungarian pronunciation:[jo:ʒɛfmindsɛnti]; 29 March 1892 – 6 May 1975) was a Hungariancardinal of theCatholic Church who served asArchbishop of Esztergom and leader of theCatholic Church in Hungary from 1945 to 1973. According to theEncyclopedia Britannica, for five decades "he personified uncompromising opposition tofascism andcommunism in Hungary".[1]
DuringWorld War II, Mindszenty was imprisoned by the pro-NaziArrow Cross Party.[2] After the war, he opposed communism and communist persecution in his country. As a result, he wastortured and given alife sentence in a 1949show trial that generated worldwide condemnation, including aUnited Nations resolution.
After eight years in prison, Mindszenty was freed in theHungarian Revolution of 1956 and grantedpolitical asylum by the United States embassy inBudapest. He lived there for the next fifteen years.[2] He was finally allowed to leave the country in 1971, and died inexile in 1975 inVienna, Austria.
His cause for sainthood was opened in 1993 andPope Francis declared himVenerable in 2019.
Mindszenty was born on 29 March 1892 inCsehimindszent,Vas County,Austria-Hungary, to József Pehm and Borbála Kovács. His father was amagistrate.[3] He attended St Norbert's Premonstratensian High Grammar School in Szombathely, before entering the SzombathelyDiocesanSeminary in 1911.[4]
Mindszenty wasordained apriest byBishop János Mikes on 12 June 1915, theFeast of the Sacred Heart. In 1917, the first of his books,Motherhood, was published. He was arrested byMihály Károlyi'sprogressive government on 9 February 1919 for speaking out against its 'socialist policies', then rearrested by the communistBéla Kun government on 31 July that year.[5][6]
In 1939, Mindszenty urged his followers to vote against theArrow Cross Party. In 1940, he published a pamphlet, "The Green Communism", in which he characterized the Hungarian Nyilas Nazi Movement as diabolic and as evil as the communists. Green was the color of the Nyilas uniform.[7]
In 1941, during aMagyarization campaign amongst Germans living in Hungary, he adopted his new Hungarian name of Mindszenty, part of his home village's name. On 25 March 1944, he was consecratedBishop of Veszprém. Mindszenty organized a letter to the Nazi authorities urging them not to fight in Western Hungary; he also protested toMiklós Horthy in favor ofconverted Jews. After Horthy was overthrown, Mindszenty was arrested on 27 November 1944 for his opposition to theArrow Cross government's plan to quarter soldiers in parts of his official palace. In April 1945, with the Arrow Cross puppet state collapsing, Mindszenty was released fromhouse arrest at a church inSopron.[8]
Following the fall of theKingdom of Hungary, Mindszenty was disappointed, as "deep down in his soul he remained amonarchist to the end of his life."[9] On 15 September 1945, Mindszenty was appointedPrimate of Hungary andArchbishop of Esztergom, the seat of the head of theCatholic Church in Hungary. On 21 February 1946, Archbishop Mindszenty was elevated toCardinal-Priest ofSanto Stefano Rotondo byPope Pius XII, who reportedly told him, "Among these thirty-two you will be the first to suffer themartyrdom symbolized by this red color."[10]
To the rulingHungarian Working People's Party, Mindszenty was regarded as the archetypal figure of "clericalreaction". He continued to use the traditional title ofprince-primate (hercegprímás) even after the use ofnoble androyal titles was outlawed by the 1946puppet parliament.[11] He contacted the US embassy, asking it to "engage in activities which were simply not diplomatically proper or politically feasible", for which he was rebuked by the embassy.[12] In addition to such contacts, the Party accused him of having "aristocratic attitudes" and attacked his demands for compensation following the state seizure of church-owned farmlands during the Party's campaign to abolish private farm ownership.[13][verification needed] Because the main source of income for the Church was its agricultural lands, confiscations by the communist government left many Church-run institutions destitute.[14][better source needed]
Cardinal Mindszenty believed and preached that "The Church asks for no secular protection; it seeks shelter under the protection of God alone".[15] For this reason, he fought fiercely against the state policy to emancipate the Hungarian educational system from Church control by seizingparochial schools.
In 1948,religious orders were banned by the government. Soon after, the communist dictator in Hungary,Mátyás Rákosi accused the Cardinal and theCatholic Church of being both "the largest landowner in Hungary" and "a reactionary force in our country, supportingthe monarchy and later thefascist dictatorship ofAdmiral Horthy". These, Rákosi claimed, were the only reasons for Mindszenty's opposition to the Party's policy of land confiscation.[16]
On 26 December 1948, Cardinal Mindszenty was arrested and accused oftreason,conspiracy, and other offences against the newHungarian People's Republic. Shortly before his arrest, he wrote a note to the effect that he had not been involved in any conspiracy and that anyconfession he might make would be the result ofduress. While imprisoned, Mindszenty was repeatedly hit with rubbertruncheons and subjected to other forms of abuse, until he agreed to confess.[14][better source needed]
Mindszenty'sforced confession included the following "admissions": orchestrating the theft of theCrown of Saint Stephen for the sole purpose of crowningCrown Prince Otto von Habsburg asKing of Hungary, scheming to overthrow the Party and reestablishcapitalism, planning athird World War, and, once it had been won by the Americans, plotting to assume supreme political power himself.[17]
Almost alone among theWesternnews media, reporterGeorge Seldes, who had previously been expelled from theSoviet Union andfascist Italy for his reporting, believed the allegations against Cardinal Mindszenty. Seldes spent the rest of his life accusing Mindszenty of being aNazi collaborator, aHolocaust perpetrator, and a virulentantisemite.[18] In his 1987 memoirs, Seldes wrote, "In 1948 the entire American section of the resident foreign press corps in Hungary implored me to report the facts about Cardinal Mindszenty's collaboration with the Nazis, his part in the deportation of the Jewish population to Hitler'sdeath camps, and also to expose the scores of fraudulent news items coming from outside Hungary, from Vienna,London,Prague, andRome especially, alleging drugging and torturing of the Cardinal."[19] Seldes was the only one[dubious –discuss] to dispute that Mindszenty was tortured by the Communists. The Pope and the international community[who?] at the time believed that Mindszenty had been tortured. Even at his show trial, the prosecution did not make the charge or provide evidence of antisemitism or Nazi collaboration.[citation needed]
On 3 February 1949, Mindszenty'sshow trial began. The Cardinal admitted to being involved in aHabsburg restorationist organization which planned to form a government after an American invasion, however he denied hoping for the outbreak of war. He said "we prayed for peace". He accepted the charges of smuggling tens of thousands of dollars into Hungary, and admitted his contacts with Otto von Habsburg and American politicians, but did not admit to willfulespionage on behalf of foreign powers. In court, Mindszenty said about the charges: "I do not deny one or another part of it, but I do not subscribe to the conclusion".[20] As he followed the trial, a weeping Pope Pius XII told SisterPascalina Lehnert, "My words have come true and all I can do is pray; I cannot help him any other way."[21] On 8 February, Mindszenty was sentenced to life imprisonment forblack marketeering, treason and espionage. The government released awhite book,Documents on the Mindszenty Case, containing his alleged confessions and case materials.
New York'sCardinal Spellman was a friend of Mindszenty and gave sermons atSt. Patrick's Cathedral in support of the Hungarian.[22]
On 12 February 1949, Pope Pius XII announced theexcommunication of all persons involved in the trial andconviction of Mindszenty. On 20 February 1949, the Pope addressed a series of questions to a crowd which had gathered inSt. Peter's Square to protest the Cardinal's show trial, asking:
Do you want a Church that remains silent when She should speak; that diminishes the law of God where She is called to proclaim it loudly, wanting to accommodate it to the will of man? Do you want a Church that departs from the unshakable foundations upon which Christ founded Her, taking the easy way of adapting Herself to the opinion of the day; a Church that is a prey to current trends; a Church that does not condemn the suppression of conscience and does not stand up for the just liberty of the people; a Church that locks Herself up within the four walls of Her temple in unseemly sycophancy, forgetting the divine mission received from Christ: 'Go out the crossroads and preach the people'? Beloved sons and daughters! Spiritual heirs of numberless confessors and martyrs! Is this the Church you venerate and love? Would you recognize in such a Church the features of your Mother? Would you be able to imagine a Successor of St. Peter submitting to such demands?[21]
According to Sister Pascalina, who witnessed the rally, "In reply to the Holy Father came a single cry like thunder still ringing in our ears: 'No!'"[21]
InAcerrimo moerore, anapostolic letter to the HungarianEpiscopate, the Pope publicly condemned the Cardinal's conviction[23] and described his tortures.[failed verification].
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Over seven years later, on 30 October 1956, in the midst of theHungarian Revolution, Mindszenty was released from prison. He returned toBudapest the next day, and on 2 November, praised the insurgents. The following day, he made a radio broadcast in favor of recentanti-communist developments.
On 4 November 1956, when the Soviet Unioninvaded Hungary to restore the communist government, Cardinal Mindszenty soughtImre Nagy's advice, and was grantedpolitical asylum at theUnited States embassy in Budapest. Mindszenty lived there for the next 15 years, unable to leave the grounds, and did not participate in thepapal conclaves of1958 and1963.
György Aczél, the communist official in charge of all cultural and religious matters in Hungary, felt increasingly uncomfortable about Mindszenty's plight in the late 1960s when the latter fell seriously ill and rumors spread of his impending death. Yet Aczél failed to convince party leaderJános Kádár that commuting Mindszenty's sentence would create valuable confusion in theHoly See and allow the state to better control the remaining clergy.
Eventually,Pope Paul VI offered a compromise: declaring Mindszenty a "victim of history" (instead of communism) and annulling theexcommunication imposed on the people involved in his trial. The Hungarian government allowed Mindszenty to leave the country on 28 September 1971.[24][25] Beginning on 23 October 1971, he lived inVienna,Austria, as he took offence at Rome's advice that he should resign from theprimacy of the Catholic Church in Hungary in exchange for uncensored publication of his memoirs backed by the Holy See. Although most bishops retire at or near age 75, Mindszenty continually denied rumors of his resignation and was not required by canon law to step down at the time.
In December 1973, at the age of 81, Mindszenty was stripped of his titles by the Pope, who declared the Archdiocese ofEsztergom officially vacated, but who refused to fill the seat while Mindszenty was still alive. Mindszenty visited Hungarian emigrants in 1975 inCaracas,Venezuela, and thenBogotá,Colombia. Just after this visit, he traveled back to Europe feeling quite ill. Mindszenty died on 6 May 1975, at the age of 83, in exile in Vienna. In early 1976, the Pope made BishopLászló Lékai theprimate of Hungary, ending a long struggle with the communist government.
In 1991, Mindszenty's remains were repatriated toEsztergom by thenewly elected government and buried in thebasilica there.
Mindszenty is widely admired in modern-day Hungary for his courage and resolve while opposing theArrow Cross Party, during Communist imprisonment, and in exile.[citation needed]
The Mindszenty Museum inEsztergom is dedicated to the life of the Cardinal. A commemorative statue of Cardinal Mindszenty stands at St. Ladislaus Church inNew Brunswick,New Jersey, US.[26] A monument was donated by the Hungarian community ofGreater Cleveland in 1977 and stands at Cardinal Mindszenty Plaza indowntown Cleveland.[citation needed] Mindszenty is remembered inSantiago,Chile with a memorial inParque Bustamante, the same park where a monument to the martyrs of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution stands.[citation needed]
In June 1974, Cardinal Mindszenty visited the Woodside Priory School[27] inPortola Valley, California. The school was founded by seven HungarianBenedictine monks, associated withSaint Martin's Archabbey inPannonhalma, who fled the repression in Hungary following the 1956 revolution. A bronze memorial was placed on the school's campus noting his visit.[citation needed] The Cardinal's visit to theSan Francisco Bay Area includedMass in December 1974 at St. Raymond Church inMenlo Park, California; a monument commemorating the service was placed on parish grounds.[28]
Thebeatification and eventualcanonization of Cardinal Mindszenty has been on theHungarian Catholic Church's agenda ever since communism fell in 1989, and the 2005–2013pontificate ofPope Benedict XVI was seen by many analysts as an excellent opportunity to achieve both, as the Pope had commented favourably on Mindszenty's calling and legacy.
The cause for the cardinal's beatification opened on 15 June 1993; Mindszenty became titled as aServant of God after theCongregation for the Causes of Saints (CCS) assented to introducing the cause in a decreenihil obstat ("no objection"). The diocesan process (collecting his spiritual writings and collecting witness interrogatories to attest to his reputation forholiness) opened in Esztergom on 19 March 1994 and closed 17 October 1996; the CCS validated the process as having complied with their regulations in Rome on 8 November 1999. In 2012, theHungarian Bishops' Conference reaffirmed its support for continuing the late cardinal's cause for beatification.[29][30] Theologians voiced their approval for the cause on 14 June 2018.
Pope Francis declared Mindszentyvenerable on 12 February 2019.[31]
Mindszenty's life and battle against the Soviet domination of Hungary and communism were the subject of the 1950 American filmGuilty of Treason, partly based on his personal papers and starringCharles Bickford as the cardinal.
The 1955BritishthrillerThe Prisoner is loosely based on Mindszenty's imprisonment, withAlec Guinness playing a fictionalized version of the cardinal.[32]
Mindszenty is reported to have disliked at least one of his film portrayals.[2]
The two-part 1966 episode "Old Man Out" of television'sMission: Impossible was loosely based on Mindszenty. The episode's premise was that a Catholic cardinal, apolitical prisoner and hero to his people, was slated forexecution in anEastern European prison. The series' protagonists were tasked with smuggling him out of the prison and country before his execution.
| Catholic Church titles | ||
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| Preceded by Gyula Czapik | Bishop of Veszprém 3 March 1944 – 2 October 1945 | Succeeded by László Bánáss |
| Preceded by | Archbishop of Esztergom 2 October 1945 – 19 December 1973 | Succeeded by |
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