Hungarian Conservative

24 September is the Feast of St Gerard in the Hungarian Catholic Church. St Gerard’s cult is still very much alive in Hungary: in the Hungarian Defence Forces, he is the patron saint of technical troops, and because of his significant literary activity, he is the patron of Catholic schools and teachers.

Throughout Hungarian history, the country was often referred to as Mary’s realm, the Regnum Marianum. On the occasion of the Hungary’s Millennium celebrations in 1896, Pope Leo XIII sent an encyclical letter to the Hungarian nation, granting permission for Hungarian Catholics to celebrate the feast of the patroness Boldogasszony.

‘The significance pilgrimages had in terms of building clerical and diplomatic relations cannot be overlooked either. A whole slew of abbots, bishops, future archbishops, historians, poets, theological thinkers, and monks later canonised as saints visited Hungary. They brought highly cherished relics, luxury items of the East, and—not least—news with them.’