The following is an adapted version of an article written by Lázár Pap, originally published in Hungarian in Magyar Krónika.
Magyar Krónika previously discussed in detail the eventful life of Péter Vay—a Protestant nobleman who became a Catholic bishop—as well as his travels to the East and his work as an art collector, in an interview with the editors of the volume A kelet és a diplomácia művészete — Vay Péter püspök világmissziója (The Art of the East and Diplomacy — Bishop Péter Vay’s Global Mission). This time, we revisit just one segment of his life: his service to Hungarian emigrants to America, as well as to survivors of the Titanic.
Vay converted to Catholicism in his thirties and soon turned toward the priesthood. He studied in the Vatican, where he became part of Pope Leo XIII’s close circle, and later joined the Church’s global missionary efforts.
Over the course of his life, Péter Vay visited the United States 14 times, and it is also likely that he travelled to parts of South America as well. Unfortunately, researchers do not know the details of his Latin American journeys. Regarding his visits to North America, however, it is clear that they served a dual purpose. On the one hand, he acted as an envoy of the Church; on the other, he crossed the ocean on behalf of the Hungarian government to visit the Hungarian diaspora. He undertook his first such journey in 1900.
Let us pause here for a moment. By the 1880s, it had become apparent that more and more people were leaving Hungary in search of a better life. The phenomenon reached such proportions that even the government could not ignore it. At first, efforts were made to slow the process by restricting the activities of emigration agents, but these had little success. The root causes of emigration were left unaddressed. The government acknowledged that neither wage conditions nor the expansion of domestic industries capable of absorbing the workforce would develop fast enough to hold people back. As a result, the state shifted to regulating the process and trying to extract as much benefit from it as possible. The first comprehensive law on the matter came in 1903. According to this legislation, anyone was free to seek prosperity wherever they saw fit—as the future Cardinal János Csernoch put it—but only within the framework provided by the state.
And what exactly were these much-mentioned ‘frameworks’? The Hungarian state aimed to keep, as much as possible, the emigration-related profits—especially from transportation—in Hungarian hands. To this end, a direct shipping route between Fiume and New York had to be established so that German ports would not reap the rewards of the migration process. The law further restricted the activities of emigration agents and sought to channel emigrants through Fiume. The crown jewel of this effort was a contract signed a year later with the Cunard Line, opening the Hungarian–American route—as reported by Mandiner.
Meanwhile, the government also set a new goal: to promote return migration. It wanted to ensure that emigrants remained connected to their homeland. This is likely where Bishop Vay also played a key role—through his presence and service, he helped maintain the cohesion of the diaspora and preserve Hungarian Catholic identity abroad.
Initially, he served as a ship chaplain aboard the steamships carrying emigrants. He took a comprehensive approach to his mission: offering communion, celebrating Mass, and providing pastoral care. According to researcher Dániel Solymári in Magyar Krónika’s previous interview, the years Vay spent among the emigrants were among the most important and formative periods of his life. These journeys were extremely demanding. Guided by a missionary spirit, Bishop Vay travelled even to the remotest parts of North America, including areas in Canada and Alaska settled by new immigrants. He was also responsible for what could be considered revolutionary innovations in ecclesiastical practice: for example, he managed to have mobile altars placed aboard the ships he travelled on to the New World, so he could celebrate Mass during the voyage—something far from self-evident before the Second Vatican Council.
‘He managed to have mobile altars placed aboard the ships he travelled on to the New World, so he could celebrate Mass during the voyage’
On one of his journeys, he was serving as a chaplain aboard the ship Carpathia when, en route to Fiume, the steamship received distress signals from the sinking Titanic. The captain immediately redirected the Carpathia toward the last known position of the stricken Titanic. The crew helped as many survivors as they could onto the deck. Among those working to keep the shocked and freezing survivors alive was a Hungarian doctor, Árpád Lengyel. From his recollections, we know that the bishop did everything in his power to assist. After the rescue, an improvised religious service was held—most likely celebrated by Bishop Vay. Lengyel’s letters also reveal that, following the rescue, one of their greatest challenges was finding space for everyone during the remaining three-day journey to New York. The crew made every effort to create a calm and safe environment for the survivors. ‘All the officers and we ourselves gave up our cabins to those rescued—there were about 800 of them—and at night, they filled the dining halls and smoking rooms as well,’ wrote Lengyel in a letter to his family. ‘The Italian doctor and I, of course, slept fully dressed on a bench in the ship’s vestibule, and we will continue to do so until Thursday, when we arrive in New York.’ It was a remarkable achievement, especially considering that the Titanic was roughly three times the size of the Carpathia—as reported on the PestBuda website.
Alongside his missionary work, the church leader considered supporting the downtrodden to be his life’s calling. He even visited the ‘Herculean labour’ of the construction of the Panama Canal, where he sharply criticized American materialism and the treatment of dark-skinned Latin American labourers.
During his service, he visited both major Hungarian communities and smaller, scattered ones—consecrating churches, baptizing, confirming, and administering communion from New York all the way to Chicago. As a papal envoy, he assisted Hungarians wherever he could, as researcher Dániel Solymári previously emphasized in Magyar Krónika.
During World War I, Bishop Vay established an orphanage for war orphans on his estate and served as a military chaplain in hospitals and on the front lines. His missionary journeys came to an end in 1918, after which he settled in a monastery in Assisi, living in increasing solitude. He died in 1948.
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