Victim of Stalinist Church Persecutions Beatified
A Hungarian Bishop, Zoltán Meszlényi, has been recognised as a martyr for his faith by the Catholic Church. Meszlényi is the first of the Hungarian victims of the Stalin-era anti-church persecution to be beatified.
The mass marking the Beatification of the one-time Bishop of Esztergom, Zoltan Meszlenyi, was celebrated by Hungary’s Cardinal Péter Erdő at the Esztergom Baszilica at the weekend, according to the Caboodle.hu website. Esztergom is Hungary’s historical religious capital, as Canterbury is in England. Cardinal Erdő, head of the country’s Catholic Church, said at the mass:
Meszlenyi is the first of the Hungarian victims of Stalinist anti-church persecution to be beatified.
Beatification is the first step in the Roman Catholic Church’s process of making someone a saint, after which the person is referred to as “Blessed.” If certain further steps take place, such as a miracle that the church recognises, he or she will be declared a saint of the church.
Bishop Meszlényi took over the reigns of the persecuted church from Cardinal József Mindszenty in 1950 when Mindszenty was jailed on trumped-up charges. His show trial was widely followed in the international media in the 50s.
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The mass marking the Beatification of the one-time Bishop of Esztergom, Zoltan Meszlenyi, was celebrated by Hungary’s Cardinal Péter Erdő at the Esztergom Baszilica at the weekend, according to the Caboodle.hu website. Esztergom is Hungary’s historical religious capital, as Canterbury is in England. Cardinal Erdő, head of the country’s Catholic Church, said at the mass:
Meszlenyi is the first of the Hungarian victims of Stalinist anti-church persecution to be beatified.
Beatification is the first step in the Roman Catholic Church’s process of making someone a saint, after which the person is referred to as “Blessed.” If certain further steps take place, such as a miracle that the church recognises, he or she will be declared a saint of the church.
Bishop Meszlényi took over the reigns of the persecuted church from Cardinal József Mindszenty in 1950 when Mindszenty was jailed on trumped-up charges. His show trial was widely followed in the international media in the 50s.