On Saturday, Oct. 10, we decided to visit Hungary’s largest Catholic church, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Adalbert, in Esztergom. It’s the place where Szent István (St. Stephen) was crowned king on Christmas Day, 1000. (Balazs family: his father was King Géza whom I believe is also a saint.) The original church was destroyed, primarily by the Turks, centuries ago. What we see today was rebuilt from 1822 t0 1869. Today, Esztergrom is the seat of the Catholic Church in Hungary and is the Archdiocese. Often this church is called St. István because he built it.
Friday evening, Tom said that the guidebook description of Esztergrom said that there isn’t much there except the cathedral. Apparently the town had been destroyed in World War II and was rebuilt by the Soviets in their typical big, ugly, shabby style. We discussed going through Kamárom, the city where Szemán Viktor went to college.
We use a GPS we called our “Road Bitch” and were going to rely on her to get us to/from Esztergom. She got us out of Győr well and off on our adventure. After about a half hour, I read to Tom about some of the things we should see. Then he said, “Uh, that doesn’t sound like the right place.” “Huh?” I said, “What do you mean?” He replied that he thought we were going to the town with the Basilica of St. István and I thought we were going to the town where he was baptized and crowned king. Talk about crossed wires!
We were headed to Székesfehérvár, not Esztergom! Too much St. István! I read the description of Székesfehérvár and it sounded OK, too. We decided to continue on our way, see Székesfehérvár and, if we had time, visit Esztergom on our return. Well, the kind folks living in and around Székesfehérvár do what their American counterparts do on Saturday: they shop. We failed to find one open parking space anywhere near the cathedral and were in horrible traffic. We bailed and used the Road Bitch to get us up to Esztergrom. (Note: take a fairly detailed map and don’t rely on a GPS or your guide book road map.)
When we got to Esztergom, we realized that you cannot miss the cathedral. It’s up on the most prominent hill in town and it’s HUGE! With the exception of the Pentagon and very tall office buildings, this was the most massive building I have ever seen! The church seats about as many as our church but the ceiling is probably 5 times higher! And the religous art! Oh! It is fantastic!
Anyone may visit the cathedral for free but there are some options which are well worth the small fee (less than $10/person) to access them. I’ll explain our favorites.
Altar of St. István
This side altar displays some relics of St. István: his skull and a couple of bones. I was awed at the site of seeing a 1000 year old skull of a saint. Just go see it. Awesome!
Treasury
This begins with the vestments of the Bishops and Cardinals throughout the ages. There are around 400 chasubles, stoles, copes, etc. on display with each one being more beautiful than the previous. These date back centuries with the oldest being from around 1400. My favorites included some with three dimensional embroidery; they depicted the Holy Family or saints and included things like a little balcony or roof which stuck out from the base. It was awesome!
The display of chalices, horns (for holy oils), crucifixes, monstrances, and other religous objects was overpowering. My favorites included a carving of the Crucifixion in a piece of crystal dating from 600–900 and two chalices made in Transylvania, Romania. The former was incredible because of its age and the latter for their very delicate gold fretwork. I had no idea how beautiful a chalice could be!
I left this area thinking, “If this beauty is in Hungary, what is in Rome?” I don’t know if I could live through the experience!
The Cupola
This is the dome on the top of the church. Tom and I walked around it. Take a look at a picture of the cathedral. Yeah, it’s that part way up there! There are 400 steps to the top–and the same 400 steps back down. I huffed and puffed my way up but going down only pained my thighs. It was worth every step.
The Tomb of Blessed Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty and Other Prelates
Much of my life I admired Minszenty for his fortitude during the 1956 Revolution. The Terror House had a very good display on Mindszenty, his investiture as Prelate of Hungary, his speeches, his imprisonment and torture, and his life in the US Embassy in Budapest and in the Vatican. This guy was a true freedom fighter. Hungary is a very religious, very Catholic country; although there are Orthodox Catholics, Calvinists, etc. as well. What Mindszenty opposed was the dehumanization of his people by the Soviet Communists. On Dec. 26, 1948, shortly after my birth, he was arrested and taken to Terror House (60 Andrassy Utca, Budapest) where he was tortured. He was eventually allowed to leave and went to the US Embassy.
Mom told me about him and about how the Russians would have arrested him had he left the Embassy. I’m sure that’s true. When I was in high school, Mom and I watched a movie, probably THE PRISONER, which was about Mindszenty. Cardinal Mindszenty is on his way to sainthood and needs one more miracle and the blessing of the Pope to become a saint. Next to the Tomb is a plaque commemorating the miracle attributed to the intercession of Cardinal Mindszenty. I’ve never seen one of those. Please, pray for Cardinal Mindszenty’s canonization. He fought for freedom against the Communists and Uncle Joe Stalin.
It is almost sacrilegious to simply say that a lot of other bishops and cardinals are buried there but that’s true. Some graves are spectacular while others are merely niches. But it is all the prelates of Hungary. Think about that. All of them.
Errata
I was overwhelmed being in the little church in my family’s ancestral village because that was where so many of my family became little Catholics. I was nearly as overwhelmed by this cathedral because it is close to being the foundation of Catholicism in Hungary. I kept my cool this time and only a few tears went down my face.
cybersyster 