Michal Buzalka

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Michal Buzalka as a young priest
Michal Buzalka's coat of arms as auxiliary bishop in Trnava

Michal Buzalka (born September 18, 1885 in Svätý Anton ( German : St. Anton ), Slovakia ; † December 7, 1961 in an internment camp near Decin ) was a Roman Catholic university professor and bishop . He was auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Trnava , which at that time also included the area of ​​today's Archdiocese of Bratislava . Buzalka died as a victim of Stalinism in the ČSSR .

Life

Michal Buzalka attended the primary school in his hometown, then the grammar school in Banská Štiavnica ( German : Schemnitz / Schebnitz ) and the Benedictine grammar school in Esztergom . After graduating from high school, he went to Vienna to study theology and was ordained a priest there on July 14, 1908 . Initially active in the parish pastoral work, he was drafted into military service in July 1914 and assigned to garrison hospital No. 17 in Budapest on August 1 , where he served as a field preacher (field curate of the reserve) in a field hospital . In 1915 he was transferred to the Carpathian Mountains. Even after the end of the war he was still used to provide religious support to the soldiers. In September 1922 the new apostolic administrator of Trnava Pavol Jantausch appointed him professor of pastoral and moral theology and prefect of the seminary in Trnava. Pope Pius XI made him papal chamberlain and gave him the honorary title of chaplain of His Holiness ( monsignor ). In 1931 he became professor and rector of the Trnava-Zavar Catholic Theological University, until it was transferred to Bratislava in 1936 as the St. Cyril and Methodius Theological Faculty of the Comenius University . In 1937 he was appointed to the cathedral chapter of St. Martin in Bratislava.

On March 17, 1938 he was appointed by Pope Pius XI. appointed auxiliary bishop in Trnava and at the same time titular bishop of Cone . It was consecrated on May 15, 1938 in Rome by the secretary of the Holy Consistorial Congregation , Raffaele Carlo Cardinal Rossi , OCD . Co- consecrators were Archbishop Pietro Pisani , the Apostolic Delegate in India , and the Archbishop Emeritus of Izmir Edoardo Tonna . His episcopal motto was: Per crucem ad lucem ( Through the cross to the light ). He became vicar general of the apostolic administrator Pavol Jantausch, but remained rector of the seminary in Bratislava until 1940. On June 4, 1940 he was appointed military vicar general (today military bishop ) with his seat in Bratislava. In 1942 he was again rector of the seminary in Bratislava. Under the direction of the Catholic Action, he founded the Catholic press office. He helped persecuted people during the Second World War , for which he received the highest recognition.

On April 16, 1945, he was arrested and jailed by communist-ruled security agencies and sentenced to four months in prison for alleged crimes during the time of the Slovak state. Arrested, interrogated and tortured again on July 12, 1950, he was interned with other bishops ( Ján Vojtaššák and Pavol Peter Gojdič ) in the Franciscan monastery in Bratislava. In the trial at the end of 1950, he was accused of conspiracy and treason against the republic as well as military espionage. The verdict was life imprisonment, confiscation of property, a fine of 200,000 kroner and deprivation of civil rights for life. After years in prisons ( Leopoldov , Pankrác bi Prague and others), he was physically and mentally broken and taken to a camp hospital near Decin .

Tomb of Bishop Buzalka in the crypt of St. Martin Cathedral, Bratislava

He died there on December 7, 1961 after a long suffering at the age of seventy-six and was buried in the cemetery of his home parish. Later his remains were transferred to the crypt of St. Martin's Cathedral in Bratislava.

Beatification process

In 2002 the diocesan preparations for a beatification process were completed. The postulator presented the Positio super vita et virtutibus (German: Explanation of life and virtues ), the documentation required to recognize a heroic degree of virtue , to the Archbishop of Bratislava Ján Sokol , who passed it on to Pope John Paul II .

Awards

literature

  • Róbert Letz (Ed.) Dokumenty k procesu s katolíckymi biskupmi Jánom Vojtaššákom, Michalom Buzalkom a Pavlom Gojdičom. (Documents, Catholic bishops Ján Vojtaššák, Michal Buzalka, Pavol Peter Gojdič) 1. vyd. Bratislava: Ústav pamäti národa, 2007. 373 s., ISBN 978-80-969296-6-5
  • Peter Slepčan, Róbert Letz Krížom k svetlu - vot a dielo biskupa Michala Buzalku - Dobrá kniha (Servant of God Michal Buzalka, martyr) Trnava, 2011, ISBN 9788071417316

Web links

Commons : Michal Buzalka  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Revue des Ordinations Épiscopales, Issue 1938, Number 38
  2. ↑ Dr. Tibor Ujlacký 50 years ago the bishop and military vicar Mons. Michal Buzalka - biography
personal data
SURNAME Buzalka, Michal
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Slovak clergyman, auxiliary bishop in Trnava
DATE OF BIRTH September 18, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Svätý Anton , Slovakia
DATE OF DEATH 7th December 1961
Place of death at decin