József Székács

József Székács

József Székács [pronounced Sekatsch ] (born February 2, 1809 in Orosháza , Békés County , Kingdom of Hungary ; † July 29, 1876 in Budapest , ibid.) Was a Protestant theologian, publicist and bishop of the Hungarian Evangelical Church AB

Life

Childhood and youth

Jozsef Székács was born as the older son of 8 children of the tanner János Székács and his wife Eva. Plentner born in Orosháza. The great-grandfather on his father's side came from Liptov County , which is also reminiscent of the Slavic-sounding family name. He started school in 1815 in the elementary school in Orosháza. After finishing elementary school, his father wanted to bring him to Gyula as a tanner apprentice in October 1820 , but after an objection from the local evangelical pastor János Szigethy, he came to the Latin school in Mezőberény because of his good academic performance and protection . During this time, he partly earned his living by tutoring classmates at the Latin school. In 1826 he continued his studies in Ödenburg . After he had finished his theological studies on June 24, 1829 and passed his candidate exam, he left Ödenburg and first became an educator. He found his first job with the Serbian noble family Nicolić de Rudna. He taught the sons of the Peter Nicolić family (* 1817, † 1878) and his younger brother Alexander Nicolić (* 1825, † 1897). He lived with his pupils in Karlowitz for a long time , where he also learned the Serbian and Greek languages. During this time he also translated the Serbian folk songs edited by Vuk Karadžić into Hungarian . In Karlowitz Székács also got to know the Metropolitan Stefan von Stratimirović , who promoted him and with whom he maintained friendly relations.

From the school year 1834/1835 Székács enrolled at the University of Berlin , where he heard dogmatics from August Twesten , church history from August Neander and philosophy from Karl Ludwig Michelet . After he achieved his doctorate in philosophy, he returned to Hungary on December 26, 1835, after several stays abroad.

Pastor in Pest

In Pest , an Evangelical Lutheran parish was founded very late in the year 1787. The majority of the Lutherans in Pest were made up of the Germans, followed by the Slovaks; the ethnic Hungarians were the smallest group; when Székács took office, the Hungarian Protestant parish only had 180 parishioners.

The previous worship practice was as follows: Michael Lang held three German services a month (the German preacher) , who, however, did not speak Hungarian, while Jan Kollár held one service monthly in Slovak , who also did not speak Hungarian. Only three services were held annually in the Hungarian language, the number of Hungarian Lutherans at that time was so negligible. There was no Hungarian preacher in Pest until 1837.

On February 1, 1836, leading Hungarian Lutherans from Pest held a meeting under the direction of Ludwig von Schedius , in which it was decided to found an independent Hungarian Protestant parish with its own pastor in Pest. On February 2, 1836, Székács gave his introductory sermon in front of the congregation. On June 11, 1837 he was elected preacher of the newly founded Hungarian community of Pest with 74 votes (from a total of 78). On November 11, 1837 he was the bishop for the mining district János Szeberenyi ordained and solemnly sworn in office. This year the Lutherans also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the congregation in Pest.

In addition to his duties as a pastor, Székács was also active in literature. In 1841 the “Catechism of the Christian Faith” (ung. Keresztény vallás katechizmusa ) was published, a revision of a German edition. On November 25, 1838 he became a member of the Hungarian Kisfaludy Society . He maintained good relations with the Palatinessa of Hungary, Maria Dorothea von Württemberg , and was actively involved in founding the first Protestant parish in Ofen in 1843. At the request of the Palatinessa, Georg Bauhofer became the first preacher of this community .

Grave of József Székács in the Kerepescher cemetery in Budapest

Székács felt like a true Hungarian patriot and was a supporter of the Hungarian War of Independence of 1847/1848. This almost became his undoing after the suppression of the struggle for freedom. It was the senior of the Evangelical-German sister community at the time, Michael Lang, who, as the “court chaplain” of Archduchess Maria Dorothea, had exercised his influence on this Hungarian-friendly princess, which led to the threat and persecution for Székács being averted.

On October 10, 1855, the Evangelical Theological Faculty was brought into being on his initiative. Szekács volunteered to teach pedagogy at the faculty .

On July 17, 1860, Székács was elected bishop for the mining district of the Hungarian Evangelical Church Community AB. He held this position until January 1, 1872.

The constituency of Orosháza elected Székács on December 10, 1865 as a member of the Hungarian Diet (until 1869).

Székács developed a lively journalistic activity throughout his life. Numerous reports, non-fiction books and translations came from his pen.

József Székacs died in Budapest on July 29, 1876. His burial took place on August 2, 1876 with great participation of the population in the Kerepescher Friedhof in Budapest.

Honors

Székács received numerous honors during his lifetime. In 1836 he became a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences . In 1862 he was elected honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 1863 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Jena . Emperor Franz Joseph awarded Székács the Knight's Cross of the Franz Joseph Order .

Székács has not been forgotten in Hungary even today. Numerous schools, kindergartens, streets and squares still bear his name today.

Descendants

Joseph Székács married on February 9, 1840 in Raab Julianna, nee. Voros. The marriage had six children:

• Gyula (* 1841, † 1874)
• István (* 1842, † 1917)
• Ferenc (* 1844, † 1901)
• Etelka (* 1846, † 1932)
• Irma (* 1852, † 1852)
• Béla (* 1856, † 1923)

literature

• Székács József püspök visszaemlékezései [Memories of Bishop József Székécs], Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 2008, ISBN 978-963-05-8669-6 (Hungarian)
• Péter Zaszkaliczky (Red.): Oltalom a zivatarban , Budapest 2011, ISBN 978-963-08-1512-3 (Hungarian)

Web links

Commons : József Székács  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Székács, Joseph . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 42nd part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1880, p. 9 ( digitized version ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Of the 12 children born by the couple, 8 reached adulthood: Eva (* 1805, † 1824), Zsuzsanna (* 1807, † 1822), József (* 1809, † 1876), Julianna (* 1811, † 1884), Erzsébet (* 1815, † 1879), Pál (* 1821, † 1908), Katalin (* 1827, † 1890).
2. ↑ The breakdown of Ungarländischen Evangelical Church AB was according to the Resolutio Carolina of four independent districts ( Transdanubia , Cisdanubien (country this side of the Danube ), lignite district and Tisza district), which board a bishop each.
3. ↑ János Szeberényi (* 1780, † 1856) was a preacher in the Protestant parish of Schemnitz . Between 1831 and 1849 he was Bishop of the Hungarian Evangelical Church AB for the mining district.
4. ↑ The Palatinessa of Hungary was the wife of Archduke Joseph of Austria , the ruling Palatine .
5. ↑ The Kerepescher Friedhof is a celebrity and honorary cemetery in the Hungarian capital. Many important personalities from Hungarian history were laid to rest here.