Gabor Szantai
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Cardinal Pázmány Péter

Cardinal Pázmány Péter

Mar 19, 2023

Cardinal Pázmány Péter, Archbishop of Esztergom, preacher of the Counter-Reformation, and founder of the University of Nagyszombat (Trnava) died on 19 March 1637.

Pázmány was born in Nagyvárad (Oradea), in the territory of the Principality of Transylvania, in a Protestant noble family. He became a Roman Catholic at the age of thirteen, entered the Jesuit order, studied in Kolozsvár (Klausenburg, Cluj), Vienna, and Rome, and taught theology at the University of Graz.

From 1607 he worked with the Primate of Esztergom, Forgách Ferenc, and was one of the most famous preachers of the Counter-Reformation, achieving surprising results in the struggle to re-Catholize noble families.

Pázmány's success lay in his recognition that the mother tongue could bring the Catholic religion much closer to the people, and he published his religious writings in Hungarian.

His most important work, The Guide to Truth, was published in 1613. He succeeded Archbishop Forgách as Primate in 1616, and his conversion successes were rewarded with a cardinal's hat by Pope Urban VIII in 1629.

As a politician, Pázmány tried to promote peace and cooperation between Transylvania and the Kingdom of Hungary as a mediator, and maintained a good friendship with Rákóczi I György (r. 1630-1648), repeatedly deterring the Transylvanian prince from attacking Hungary during the Thirty Years' War.

Pázmány's most outstanding achievements were in the development of education and the cultivation of the Hungarian language. He founded seminary schools in Nagyszombat (Trnava) and Vienna (1623 - Pazmaneum), which he financed from his own archbishop's income.

Pázmány founded the University of Nagyszombat in 1635, which was the ancestor of many of today's higher education institutions (e.g. ELTE, SOTE, Pázmány Péter Catholic University) and it was the most important Hungarian higher education institution for centuries.

Pázmány was the most important figure in 17th-century Hungarian culture, and in the difficult times of the Turkish era, not only the Catholic Church but also our universal national culture owed much to him.

Cardinal Pázmány used to say about Hungary's situation, referring to the position of the Kingdom of Hungary between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans:

"We are the fingers that got stuck between the door and the frame of the door..."

He, the Hungarian priest "who was born in a Protestant country and died in a Catholic one" wrote the following in his collected speeches in 1636:

"The great thieves often hang the small thieves: those who steal much, often wear gold necklaces while those who steal just a little, are hanging on a hemp rope."

I conducted an imaginary interview with him, you can read it on my page:

https://www.hungarianottomanwars.com/essays/interview-with-cardinal-pazmany-peter/

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