Hogyan szerkesszük meg egy szent tiszteletét? : A társadalmi igények, a politika és a megélt vallásosság szerepe Árpád-házi Margit szentté avatásában

Beaticaiton and sanctification belog to the inner affairs of the Roman Catholic Church. They mirror back the demands, wishes, efforts of an epoch, they are in connection with social processes and value-system of a time period and the society. Beatification processes are succesfull all the more they can reconcile the religious/church and social demands, or they can bring the veneration of the given person into fashion in the major part of the society. It has happened to the veneration of Margaret of the House of Arpad in the first half of the 20th century. The paper describes this process from that time period with help of analysis of archival sources, media, literature, and fine arts. The paper contents especially the connection of politics and the sanctification process of Margaret

The central celebration for the canonisation of Margaret of Hungary in January 1944

After numerous unsuccessful attempts over 700 years, on 23 July 1943 Pope Pius XII signed the canonisation bulla of Margaret of Anjou of the medi- aeval Hungarian royal dynasty (1242-1271), a nun of the Dominican Order. The liturgical feast of Margaret, who was beatified in the 17 th century falls on Janu- ary 18. This was the reason why the Hungarian Catholic Church chose January 1944 for the official and national celebration of her canonisation. It ordered that a three-day celebration (triduum) be held in all Catholic churches of the coun- try at that time, and also specified the liturgy. The central celebration was held within the frame of an eight-day commemoration (octava) in the Queen of the Rosary church of the Dominican Order in Budapest. The celebration provided a good example of the cohesion of the Catholic Church, the cooperation between the Catholic Church and the political sphere, and the broad social support for the cause. The article analyses this central celebration and some of the sermons preached on the occasion. No similar celebrations were held in later years or decades. The Eastern front of the Second World War reached Hungary in the summer and autumn of 1944, and after the war the atheist-communist-socialist regime that came to power prevented similar aspirations. As a result, the veneration of Saint Margaret that reached a peak in early 1944, subsequently gradually faded away

Szent Margit ima-akciók a 20. század első felében

Blessed Margaret was sanctified by Pope Pius XII. on 23d July 1943 after 700 Blessed Margaret was sanctified by Pope Pius XII. after 700 years on 23d July 1943. This was the result of a well organized process. Beyond the success one can find the changes in the history and society of the 20th century, which has needed such a type of saint. In dissemination of the cult and veneration played the literature, the architecture and the fine arts an important role. The Dominican monk P. Kornél Bőle had a basic role in the canonisation. He and the Dominican Order have built in the process on the religious organizations of Dominican character, such as the Rosary and Credo Society. The so called Cir-cles of St. Margarete were already established at the very beginning of the 20th century. There were processions every year onto the Margaret Island, started already in 1916, which were influenced by the resolution of of the Great Roman Catholic National Assemble, the commemorial festivities of St. Emerich in 1930 and by 1938, the holy year of the Hungarians, when the 900th anniversary of the death of St. Stephen, the first Hungarian King was commemorated. Through the International Eucharistic Congress, which was held in 1938 was held in Budapest, the canonization process was internationalized. The processes have strengthened each other and became a broad movement holding together the whole society: workers, aristocrats, students and teachers, politicians. Praying and communion-movements started since the early 1940s for the succes of the canonization. The process of sanctification became the concern of Hungarians and united Hun-garians living in Hungary, and those who emigrated in America and those, who were living in the neibouring contries. The international character of the Dominican Order played also an important role int he succes of the canonization process. Until June 1940 more than 1,5 million postulations were sent to the Holy Seat. Spiritual exercises, feasts were held all over the country. The mass media gave regularly informations about the events. The process was closed by a festive week between 16th-23rd January 1944 or-ganized by the Roman Catholic Church