Hungarian Parish Priests in the US during the 1930s and 1940s

Type of Abstract (select): Paper presentation

Abstract (max. 250 words):
A rather unique phenomenon revealed itself in Catholic ecclesiastical sources regarding the history of the parish priests of the Diocese of Szombathely, Hungary. From the early 20th Century onward, several records show that young parish priests were sent for two or four years to the USA for the purpose of „cura animarum”. After a few years they returned home to their diocese and continued their work as parish priests. Perth Amboy (New Jersey), Toledo (Ohio), and Woodbridge (Virginia) were amongst the destinations in the States. These priests were mostly born and raised in the above mentioned diocese at the western border of Hungary, most of them never left the county (Vas) afterwards. My hypothesis is that this practice is linked to the fact that huge amount of people migrated from Hungary to the US in the late 19th and early 20th century. They formed closed communities, and these communities articulated their need of pastoral care in their native language. It is remarkable that from such a distance those local communities managed to make their voices heard. And on the other side, the bishop of the Diocese of Szombathely not only received the message, but felt responsible for these communities and made arrangements to make it possible to send priests overseas regularly. We know of no other Hungarian diocese where this custom was practiced.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Rita Suly is Research Fellow at the Office of the Committee of National Remembrance, Budapest, since February 2019. She attended Pázmány Péter Catholic University where she received the Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Latin in 2009, and the Master of Arts degree in History in 2013. Defended her dissertation in 2021 at University of Pécs. Interested in the History of the Catholic Church in Hungary during the 18th and 20th century.