Szilárd Ignác Bogdánffy

Bishop Szilárd Ignác Bogdánffy

Szilárd Ignác Bogdánffy (born February 21, 1911 in Feketetó , Torontál County , today Crna Bara , Okrug Severni Banat ; † October 3, 1953 in Aiud Prison ) was Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop in Satu Mare and Oradea . On October 30, 2010, he was beatified in the Oradea Basilica ( Nagyvárad in Hungarian ) .

Life

Szilárd Ignác Bogdánffy was born in Vojvodina , then Hungary . In 1925 the family moved to Timișoara , where he attended the Piarist high school. After graduating from high school, he studied for two years at the Theological Academy of Großwardein ( Nagyvárad in Hungarian ) and then at the Pázmány Péter University in Budapest. On June 29, 1934, he was ordained a priest by Bishop Stefan Fiedler . In 1943 he received his doctorate in philosophy and dogmatics from the University of Budapest . After his return to Romania in 1934 he was a clergyman and religion teacher in several schools in Oradea; from 1944 professor of theology there. During the Second World War he protected the persecuted and hid Jews in the theological faculty in order to save their lives, which is why he received constant threats from the Gestapo and the state police.

After the Second World War and the seizure of power by the Russians and the communist regime in Romania, the persecution of the Catholic Church began. The government wanted to transform the Catholic Church into a Romanian national church and several leading figures in the church, including a. Forcing Szilárd Bogdánffy to participate. These attempts were rejected by those affected, including the Cathedral Chapter Bogdánffy.

On 14 February 1949 he was in secret by Bishop Gerald O'Hara , interim head of the Apostolic Nunciature in Romania, bishop ordained . About two months later, he was arrested and sentenced to twelve years of forced labor. He spent four years in the toughest prisons in Romania. On October 3, 1953, Auxiliary Bishop Bogdánffy died in Aiud prison ( Nagyenyed in Hungarian ) as a result of the abuse and pneumonia because he was not given any medication.

beatification

On October 30, 2010, he was beatified as a martyr by Cardinal Peter Erdö and Archbishop Angelo Amato in the Basilica of Oradea .

See also

• List of the secret bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Romania

Web links

• Confirmation of martyrdom on Vatican Radio
• Entry on catholic-hierarchy.org
• confirmation
• Newspaper: Magyar Kurír
• Erdély ma from: 6. IV. 2010
• Romania: Beatification of the first martyr of the communist regime

literature

• Ioan Ploscaru , Lanțuri și teroare , Editura Signata, Timișoara, 1993, pages 185-189.
• László Böcskei püspök: Imafüzet (Isten Szolgája / Boldog) Bogdánffy Szilárd vértanú püspökhöz, Rómaikatolikus Püspökség Nagyvárad 2010 pages 36.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bishop Stefan Fiedler (István Fiedler) was also born in Vojvodina in Großbetschkerek (today Zrenjanin )