Dénesi Tamás (szerk.): Collectanea Sancti Martini - A Pannonhalmi Főapátság Gyűjteményeinek Értesítője 3. (Pannonhalma, 2015)
III.Forrásközlések
346 BALOTH GÁBOR: A SZOCIÁLIS TESTVÉREK TÁRSASÁGÁNAK KRÓNIKÁJA Gábor Balogh: The Chronicle of the Activity Conducted by the Sisters of Social Service between April and December of 1944 A valuable document lay hidden among the posthumous papers of a catholic priest of Jewish origin, György Kis DD (1914−2005), the former parish priest of Románd. A part of a chronicle starting on 3 April 1944 and interrupted on 28 December 1944. It depicts a true but shocking view of the hard period of the Holocaust. At the same time, it provides a close examination of the world of a female order of Benedictine spirituality, namely the life of the Sisters of Social Service, it also gives an insight into the everyday course of saving people’s lives by the Church Militant, and it highlights the special way of saving Jews in Hungary. The Chronicle registers the names of about 70 people. Their majority belongs to the Sisters of Social Service (members, employees, assistants, or supporters of the Sisters), the others are either members and assistants of different church organizations (the Union of the Holy Spirit, the Hungarian Association of the Holy Cross, Apostolic Nunciature, etc.), or they are actually refugees and persecuted people. The agents of saving Jews balance between the laws of two worlds, which are sometimes contradictory: they are based on the law of conscience in the name of benevolence and Christian charity, and they complete their task with full respect for the secular laws in force. Their set of means comprehends the rich repository of non-violent conflicts: accom modating and feeding refugees, identifying with their fate, providing spiritual comfort, sheltering and christening persecuted people, praying together, giving religious education, securing certificates for them (of protection, safe conduct, and baptism), representing and arguing for their interests against the members of the armed forces, conducting proceedings with the authorities and administrative offices... The sisters – being frequently astonished themselves as well at it – always found the means of proper conduct in a given situation: being polite and respectful, or adapting a determined and negative attitude, or behaving as true amazons facing tyrannical armed men (the Arrow-Cross men)... Although the Chronicle was left unfinished and its author remains anonymous, it still provides clear evidence that both in Budapest and some towns in the country, ecclesiastics – running the risk of losing their lives – took an active part in saving people’s lives, they were brave enough to face the invaders and persecutors without resorting to violence. As is demonstrated by the example of the Sisters of Social Service, what can lead to result is not the number of members exclusively, not even resorting to the means of violence, but the recognition of the signs of the times (“Our time has come” – recollected one of the sisters), and the proper activity with the help of God matching the times. The sisters themselves were operative like leaven in Budapest and contributed to the saving thousands of lives.
