Saint Stephen of Hungary

This child was born in 977, in Gran or Strigonium, which was then the metropolis of the country. At his baptism, he receiv Étienne King of Hungary who welcomed Gervin during his pilgrimage. ed the name Stephen, because of a vision his mother had experienced. Historians of Germany and Father Stilling claim that this sacrament was ad ministered to saint Adalbert Bishop of Prague, friend of Adalbert and martyr in Prussia. him by Saint Adalbert, Bishop of Prague, who preached the Gospel to the Hungarians for some time. He was given as a tutor the pious Theodat, a count from Italy, who, in concert with Saint Adalbert, inspired in him early on vivid sentiments of religion.

Stephen knew how to pronounce the admirable name of the Savior before he knew how to ask for bread or greet his father and mother. One saw in him, from childhood, such beautiful inclinations for piety that no one doubted he would faithfully fulfill what heaven had promised and predicted. He made the most rapid progress in his studies. He was seen almost always at the side of Saint Adalbert, and it was through the examples and lessons of such a wise prelate that he acquired great holiness. He could not endure the barbaric and inhumane customs that the Hungarians, who came from the Scythians, had preserved until then. He often reproved them with vehemence, and, gathering them in groups around him, he represented to them, on the contrary, the beauty, innocence, and purity of the law of the Gospel. Prayer and the contemplation of divine truths were the sweetest conversation of his soul; he applied himself to them as much as he could, and, when the relief of the poor and other unfortunate people, for whom he had a particular benevolence, occupied him outside, he did not fail to keep God before his eyes and to converse lovingly with Him. When he had passed fifteen years, his father unburdened himself onto him of a part of the affairs of his State, and, seeing that God had endowed him with singular prudence, he deferred much to his advice and did nothing without having called him to his council. He even entrusted him with the general command of his armies.

Geysa having died in 997, Stephen succeeded him. His first care was to conclude a lasting peace with all neighboring peoples. He then applied himself with the greatest zeal to firmly establish Christianity in his states, but a considerable number of Hungarians, stubbornly attached to their superstitions, took up arms against their sovereign. When they felt they were strong enough, they besieged the city of Veszpré m. Step Vesprin City in Hungary where Emeric had a mystical vision. hen, full of confidence in God, prepared for war through fasting, almsgiving, and prayer; he also sought the help of heaven through the intercession of Saint Martin and Saint George. He gave battle to the rebels, and although he was inferior to them in number, he won a complete victory over them and killed their leader. To signal his gratitude, he had a monastery built near the place where the battle had taken place under the invocation of Saint Martin, which was later known by the name of the Holy Mountain. He richly endowed this monastery, to which he also gave the third part of the spoils taken from the enemies. It reports directly to the Holy See and bears the title of archabbey in Hungary. Stephen, seeing himself at liberty, resumed his initial plan to procure the glory of God by all sorts of means. He brought in priests and religious commendable for their piety; and these holy missionaries, by spreading the knowledge of Jesus Christ from place to place, civilized the people still plunged in barbarism, founded monasteries, and built churches. Some of them obtained the crown of martyrdom.

The zealous prince founded ten bishoprics and the archbishopric of Gran or Strigonium. After which, he sent to Rome Astricus or Anastasius, newly elected to fill the see of Kalocsa; he prayed Pope Sylvester II to receive the newly converted Hungary into the number of Christian and Catholic states, to give it his apostolic blessing, to approve the erection of the bishoprics, to confirm the appointed bishops, and, at the same time, to agree that he should take the title of king and wear its marks, in order to give more weight and authority to all that he would regulate for the honor of God and for the propagation of the faith and the Christian religion.

Mieszko, Duke of Poland, who, by marrying the daughter of Boleslaus, Duke of Bohemia, had embraced Christianity in 965, had also sent to ask the Pope for the title of king; the Pope had had a rich crown prepared which he was to place the next day in the hands of the head of his embassy. But, the following night, a heavenly messenger warned him in a dream that this crown was not to be for the Pole, but for Stephen, prince of Hungary, whose deputies would present themselves before him in the morning, because his signal virtues and his ardor for the establishment of the Gospel made him deserve this preference. Indeed, Anastasius had an audience that very morning. The Sovereign Pontiff, learning what Stephen was doing for Christianity, confirmed what he had done, and gave him full apostolic power to found churches and erect bishoprics and archbishoprics, and to appoint to them the persons he judged worthy to fill them; he permitted him to have the cross carried before him like an ap roi King of Hungary who welcomed Gervin during his pilgrimage. ostle and sent him, with a precious cross, the royal crown of which we have spoken. When Stephen learned of the return of his ambassador, he went to meet him, and having had the Pope's bulls read to him, he listened to them standing out of respect. He had himself crowned, in the year 1000, by the bishop who had brought him the royal crown from Rome, and submitted his kingdom to the Roman Church.

He made very holy laws to abolish the barbaric customs of the Scythians and the Hungarians, and he published very severe ones against murder, adultery, theft, blasphemy, and several other crimes. He provided for the protection of widows, wards, and orphans, and for the subsistence of poor families; he forbade Christians from allying themselves by marriage with infidels, and obliged all those who were neither religious nor ecclesiastics to marry, in order to uproot both incontinence and idolatry. Shortly after his coronation, he married Gisela, sister of t he hol Gisèle Mother of Saint Emeric and wife of Saint Stephen. y Emperor Henry, a princess worthy of this honor. He had her consecrated and crowned queen, and from then on she cooperated with him in the increase of the worship of God and the propagation of the Catholic religion. Stephen did not cease to found churches in all parts of his domain, and Gisela especially had a very magnificent one built at Veszprém, to which she gave very precious ornaments along with great revenues to maintain canons.

This wise monarch not only had submitted his kingdom and his diadem to the Holy See, but he had also placed them under the special protection of the Blessed Virgin, Queen of heaven and earth, for whom he held a singular devotion: he had a beautiful church built under her invocation in the city of Alba, which was nicknamed the Royal, because he made it his ordinary residence. He also extended his piety outside his states and as far as Rome, Constantinople, and Jerusalem; he founded a collegiate church in Rome for twelve canons, and a hospital for pilgrims from Hungary. He had a temple built in Constantinople, which he provided with everything necessary to maintain divine service there; and he had a monastery built in Jerusalem, to which he allocated sufficient revenues for the subsistence of a community of religious. This liberality toward the churches did not prevent him from exercising a very great one toward the poor; he did not love them less than if he had seen Jesus Christ in their person: no one left his presence dissatisfied. He often chose the night to perform these works of charity, taking pleasure in secretly washing the feet of pilgrims and hiding his alms in the bosoms of the afflicted and the beggars. One day, having taken a purse full of money, he went out in disguise, and without any mark of his royal dignity, to distribute it to the poor. The first ones he met, not recognizing him and wanting to have everything for themselves, threw themselves upon him, knocked him to the ground, committed several outrages against him, even pulling his hair and tearing out his beard, and finally took his purse and all his money. The holy King was not moved by this; on the contrary, rejoicing to have endured something for Jesus Christ, he addressed the Blessed Virgin and said to her: "You see, Queen of heaven and earth, my amiable Princess, how your soldiers have treated the one whom you have made king: if this injury had been done to me by an enemy, I would not suffer it, and, being assured of your help, I would undertake to take vengeance; but since it was done to me by those whom your Son calls his own, I thank Him for it, and I can have only indulgence and tenderness for them. I know that the divine Savior said that not a hair of our head will perish; thus I expect, for this affront, to receive from His hands the crown of eternal life." After this accident, he took the resolution never to refuse charity to any poor person; and, in fact, he made such great distributions to all kinds of needy people that it was not understood how all the revenues of his domain could suffice for it. Our Lord, to favor the inclinations of his charity, gave him the grace to heal the sick. Furthermore, He also granted him the gift of prophecy, so that he knew things to come as if they were happening before his eyes. It is said that one night he sent a courier off in haste to warn the peasants of the borders to withdraw as soon as possible into the cities, because the barbarians were going to make an incursion into the country: which indeed happened, but without much damage, because the inhabitants of the countryside had already fled with what they had of most value.

The Emperor Saint Henry, brother-in-law and intimate friend of our holy monarch, having passed Conrad German emperor who attempted to invade Hungary. away, Conrad, who succeeded him, sent a powerful army into Hungary to wage war against him and seize his states. Our holy King immediately raised troops to oppose this enemy; but, because he knew that the greatest enemies have only weakness if they are not supported by the invincible strength of the arm of God, he addressed himself to the Blessed Virgin to obtain this help through her intercession: "Do you wish," he said to her, "glorious Virgin Mary, that this part of your inheritance be prey to those who hate us, and that this new plant of Christianity be stifled at its birth? If this be so, may your holy will be done: but grant that my distrust and cowardice not be the causes. Here I am ready to fight; give me the prudence and courage necessary for me to worthily discharge this duty; and if I have deserved some punishment, see fit that I endure it alone, and do not destroy this innocent people with their guilty prince." After this prayer, he placed himself generously at the head of his troops; but, the very next day, a courier arrived from the Emperor to his captains to make his men return; so that our Saint remained victorious without fighting and delivered from the fury of his enemies, without any blood being shed on either side. Conrad, who had not effectively countermanded his army, was quite astonished to see it return having done nothing; but, when he learned from his officers that they had only returned by an order from him, he saw clearly that God had intervened in this affair and that the courier had been sent by a greater Master than he, who took Saint Stephen under his protection.

The custom of this holy King was to give the day to the government of his kingdom, to render justice to his people, and to consecrate the nights to prayer, to the contemplation of divine truths, to penance, and to tears. His spirit was then so transported in God that his body itself sometimes followed it: one day while he was praying in his tent, he was lifted with it into the air by angels, until his prayer was finished. His reputation became so great that his neighbors no longer dared to attack him; the

Barbarians themselves, who were in the surroundings, bore him a singular respect. People came from afar to Hungary to have the happiness of seeing him, just as the Queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem to be a witness to the incomparable wisdom of King Solomon.

It was necessary, for the virtue of this wise monarch to be perfected, that it be tested and purified by sorrows and afflictions. He endured very great ones, which would have cast any other into grief and impatience. He was tormented by an acute illness that lasted three years. Then, death took his children from him: he had only his eldest, Emeric , left Emeric Eldest son of Saint Stephen, who died prematurely. , who was beginning to bear part of the burden of government; he was the support and consolation of his father. Stephen saw him die without issue. This terrible blow cast the whole kingdom into consternation, but could not shake the constancy of our holy king. He submitted to the orders of the divine will, adored its guidance, and even gave thanks for the favor it had granted his son in calling him to His kingdom at an age when the abundance of earthly prosperity had not been able to tarnish his innocence. He increased his charities toward churches, monasteries, and the poor, to relieve the soul of this dear son, whose holiness shone forth through miracles, and to obtain from God a worthy successor.

Some time later, he himself fell ill with a slow fever that undermined him so much that he could no longer stand. Four palatines took advantage of this to attempt his life. They were irritated by the exactitude with which he enforced justice, without respect of persons. One of them entered his room during the night, hiding his naked sword under his cloak to execute his wretched design. But God, who watches over the protection of kings, permitted him to drop his sword; the Saint heard it, and was moreover instructed by revelation: he asked what it was; the parricide, trembling, threw himself at his feet and asked for his pardon. Stephen granted him his grace; but his accomplices were executed as the good of the State required.

Finally, in the year 1038, according to Baronius, on the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, which the Hungarians, by the command of this blessed prince, call the feast of the Great Lady, after having devoutly received the sacraments of Extreme Unction and the Eucharist, and having exhorted the bishops, the clergy, and the lords of the kingdom to maintain the Catholic religion there and to provide him with a worthy successor, he peacefully rendered his soul into the hands of Our Lord, to receive the reward due to his piety and the labors of his apostolate.

[APPENDIX: CULT AND RELICS.]

The great miracles that occurred at the tomb of Saint Stephen were certain marks of his beatitude. One could also sometimes hear a celestial melody and smell a pleasant fragrance, which showed that his body was destined to one day be glorious in heaven.

His body, having been raised from the earth, was enclosed in a shrine and deposited in a chapel of the Church of Our Lady, in Buda, forty-five years after his death, on August 29. This was not done without a great number of new miracles: as a crowd of the sick flocked from all parts to participate in the blessing of this translation, those who could not arrive in time, and who were then on their way, did not fail to recover their health.

His sacred bones were found swimming in a liquid like balm, which exhaled a fragrance sweeter than all those of the earth. They tried to drain it with cloths that they intended to use for the relief of the sick; but the more they emptied it, the more the tomb filled with a similar liquid, which obliged them to put back what had been drawn out, and then, by a surprising miracle, the coffin, which was full, received all the previous liquid without overflowing or appearing fuller than it was before.

Among the notable persons who then received healing through the merits of Saint Stephen, one of the most renowned was Countess Matilda, whom an illness of fifteen years had reduced to the last extremities. Her people brought her near the Saint, and she found there the relief for her ailment that an infinity of remedies had not been able to provide her.

They were very surprised, upon the opening of the mausoleum, to find neither the hand of the holy King nor the ring that had been placed on hi s finger. But it main du saint Roi Incorrupt right hand of Saint Stephen. had been taken invisibly, still in flesh and bone, by an angel, and deposited in the hands of a holy religious named Mercurius. He remained for some time without revealing this secret; but he finally revealed it, which gave a new subject of joy to the people and made known, more and more, the merit of the alms of Saint Stephen.

Benedict IX canonized him, and Innocent XI fixed his feast day on S Benoît IX Pope who canonized Saint Emeric and his father. eptember 2.

We have, in Surius, a life composed by a bishop of Hungary, named Chartrais. Antonius Bonfinius has also given a more detailed one in the second decade of his History of Hungary. Baronius speaks of him with much honor, both in his Annals and in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology.