Georg Szelepcsényi

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Georg Szelepcsényi (steel engraving by Elias Widemann)

Georg Szelepcsényi (born April 24, 1595 in Szelepcseny , Kingdom of Hungary , † April 24, 1685 in Lettowitz , Kingdom of Bohemia ) was a Catholic priest and Archbishop of Gran . He was also active as a journalist and was an important representative of the Counter Reformation .

Life

Signature: Georgius Szelepcheny, archiepiskopus Strigoniensis

Georg Szlepcsényi was one of several children of Slovak serfs , his mother's name was Zsuzsanna and was born Gyürky. He was baptized in the church of Barskisfalud ( Slov . Vieska nad Žitavou) a small village about 10 km from Goldmorawitz , in Bars county . Both parents are said to have been slain by the Turks as a result of the Turkish wars . As an orphan he hired himself as a swineherd in order to survive. Then he came into the care of a distant relative, Ladislaus Szelepcsényi, who belonged to the minor nobility. The boy also adopted his name, coat of arms and the title of nobility .

Archbishop Péter Pázmány met the talented young man during a canonical visit to Bars County in 1617. He recognized the talent of the young man and took him to Trnava , where he in the local Jesuit - School enabled training. In 1618 Pázmány sent him to Rome for further studies at the Pontificium Collegium Germanium et Hungaricum seminary , where he received his doctorate and two doctorates after his studies in theology and philosophy . He was ordained a priest in 1627.

After his return home, he made a steep career as a priest, but also as a diplomat . First he worked as a priest in Wartberg ( ung . Szenc), in 1536 he became a canon in Tyrnau. At the solemn funeral of his patron and friend Peter Pázmany in 1637, he led the funeral ceremonies and also gave the funeral address.

On April 18, 1648 he was appointed Bishop of Neutra and in 1657 Archbishop of Kalocsa . After György Lippay's death, on January 15, 1666, he was appointed Archbishop of Gran and Primate of Hungary. He was one of the closest confidants and advisers of Emperor Leopold I. In addition to his work as a prince of the church, he was also involved in government business. From 1644 he was head of the Hungarian Court Chancellery, which at that time was still located in Pressburg , before moving to Vienna in 1690 . He was three times on a diplomatic mission on behalf of the emperor at the Sublime Porte in Constantinople (today's Istanbul ). Between 1670 and 1681 he was royal governor for the Kingdom of Hungary, which was the highest dignity after the king.

Szelepcsényi played a decisive role in the discovery of the magnate conspiracy in the Kingdom of Hungary. László Fekete - Iványi ( ung. Iványi-Fekete László) betrayed the conspirators to the archbishop, who passed this information on to the Viennese imperial court.

Because of his earnings but also thanks to his business skills, he made a huge fortune. Above all, however, he used this fortune for the common good. He founded schools and had numerous churches built at his own expense. He financially supported many parishes and Catholic religious orders . In Tyrnau he founded a seminary and supported the university with significant financial resources.

Szelepcsényi reached a high age for that time. At the end of his life he fell ill and withdrew to his estate in Lettowitz in Moravia . But also from here he directed his Gran Archdiocese in writing and maintained a lively correspondence with the emperor and the Viennese court. He died on January 15, 1685 on his estate in Lettowitz. According to his own wish, which he also confirmed in his will, he found his final resting place in the pilgrimage church of Mariazell . He was buried in the local chapel of St. Ladislaus , which he had built himself.

Counter-reformation

The decade between 1671 and 1681 can be described as the decade of mourning for Protestantism in Hungary. If the Jesuit party led by György Szelepcsényi had had their way within the Roman Church, Protestantism in Hungary would have had to reckon with its complete annihilation at this time. Szelepcsényi was - as a staunch Catholic educated by Jesuits - an advocate of the Counter Reformation . He was ready to forcibly push back Protestantism, which had meanwhile also been established in the Kingdom of Hungary - with the help of the Catholic Habsburg emperor. Leopold I constituted a "special court", which was chaired by Szelepcsényi (in his capacity as Archbishop of Gran). Under the direction of Szelepcsényi and his successor Leopold Kollonich (at that time in his capacity as President of the Hungarian Court Chamber) "show trials" were staged in Tyrnau (Slov. Trnava, Hungarian Nagyszombat) in 1673/74, in which the Protestants - Lutherans and Calviner alike were brought before and convicted en masse . With this the Catholic dignitaries hoped to exterminate the Lutheran and Calvinist " heretics " once and for all.

As early as September 25, 1673, 33 Protestant preachers and numerous school teachers were summoned to this court and charged with " libel of majesty " and cooperation with the Kuruzen (considered to be Protestant) . They were also accused of collaborating with the Ottomans .

Some of them were sentenced to death. they were presented with a reversal for their binding signature , after which they

  • either had to leave the country or
  • give up their work as evangelical preachers
  • and convert to Catholicism

Those who were willing to sign this reversal should be released. Most of those summoned signed. After this 'success', on March 5, 1674, another 730 Protestant preachers and teachers were summoned to the special court. The allegations were the same as last year. However, there were several preachers who were unwilling to sign the reversal. They were sentenced to death on April 4, 1674. An outcry of indignation roared through Protestant Europe!

The imperial court in Vienna could not accept this radical position of the Catholic clergy. Consideration for the Protestant princes in the German Empire , as well as his Protestant allies England and Holland , which he needed in the fight against the Turkish sultan and France , forced Emperor Leopold I to adopt a more liberal position.

As a result, the death sentences were commuted into severe draconian prison sentences. In 1675 the affected were sold as galley convicts into slavery in Naples .

Turkish war and siege of Vienna 1683

Szelepcsenyi was a staunch opponent of Islam . It is thanks to his diplomatic skills that an anti-Turkish union was formed in Europe. He prophesied the siege of Vienna and therefore he went on a diplomatic mission on behalf of the emperor to Poland , where he campaigned for the participation of the Polish and Lithuanian armed forces.

In response to the Ottoman war preparations and at the urging of Szelepcsényi, who was also Pope Innocent XI. was supported, the then King of Poland John III. Sobieski formed a defensive alliance with Emperor Leopold I on April 1, 1683 . As soon as the king received news of the Turkish campaign in the direction of Vienna, he issued the general aristocracy and set out to liberate the threatened imperial capital. He made a decisive contribution to the history of Europe. His Polish army and its allies defeated the Ottoman army in the Battle of Kahlenberg in 1683 .

At the beginning of May 1683 Szelepcsényi came to Pressburg where he celebrated a Holy Mass in front of the assembled troops and gave his blessing to the defenders of Vienna. In the summer of 1683 he supported the Christian armies with 493 thousand guilders from his private box. He also supported the Christian armies with food from his Bohemian and Moravian estates valued at approx. 170 thousand guilders.

On September 12, 1683, the Christian armies defeated the Turkish overwhelming power. As a reminder of this victory, Pope Innocent XI. this day for the feast of the name of the Virgin which is still held as a holiday in Catholic areas today.

Archbishop Szelepcsényi earned the honorary title "Savior of Vienna" because of his spiritual support, as well as his financial and material help.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In his will he bequeathed 2500 gold florins to his baptistery.
  2. ↑ According to other sources, they should have died of an epidemic .
  3. ^ György Lippay (born October 9, 1600 in Preßburg , † January 30, 1666 in Tyrnau), Archbishop of Gran and Primate of Hungary
  4. ↑ László Fekete-Iványi belonged to the Hungarian minor nobility. Between 1650 and 1661 he was deputy commandant of the fortress Fileck and a follower of the palatine Franz Wesselényi , who in 1668 initiated him into the planned conspiracy. Out of greed and in the hope of increasing his possessions through betrayal, he betrayed the conspirators to the archbishop. (quoted from Magyar életrajzi Lexikon, Vol. 1, p. 786)
  5. ↑ a b c Anton Klipp: Fragments for the history of Protestantism ... (see literature)
  6. ↑ The Christian armies carried a banner with the image of the Madonna in a protective cloak in battle.
personal data
SURNAME Szelepcsényi, Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Catholic priest and Archbishop of Gran
DATE OF BIRTH April 24, 1595
PLACE OF BIRTH Szelepcseny , Kingdom of Hungary
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 1685
Place of death Lettowitz , Kingdom of Bohemia