Virag, Paula et al. (szerk.): Satu Mare. Studii şi comunicări. Seria istorie-etnografie-artă 28/2. (2012)
Istorie
Bura László A katolikus iskolaügy Magyarországban (Problematica şcolilor catolice din Ungaria), Fasciculus tertius. Pars I. Collectae, editae et notis illustrae a Friderico Weiser S.J. Ladislaus Lukács, Catalogipersonarum et offiäorum Provindae Austriae S.I., Tom. II (1601-1640), Romae, 1982. Mészáros István, Az iskolaügy története Mgyarorszjgon 966-1777 köpött (Istoria învăţământului din Ungaria între 996-1777), Budapest, 1981. Molnár Antal, „Olasz minoriták a XVII. századi Felső-Magyarországon” (Minoriţi italieni în Ungaria Superioară în secolul al XVII-lea), in Aetas 1992/3, p. 44-77. Pázmány Péter bíbornok... összegyűjtött levelei (Corespondenţa cardinalului Pázmány Péter), voi. I-II, ed. şi pref. Hanuy Ferenc, Budapest, 1910-1911. Petruch Antal, Szfz év a magyar jezsuiták múltjából. (O sută de ani din istoria iezuiţilor), Kecskemét, 1992. Szptmár vármegye (Comitatul Satu Mare), ed. Borovszky Samu, Budapest, [1907]. Szirmay Antal, Szatmár vármegye fekvése, története és polgári esmérete. (Aşezarea, istoria şi populaţia comitatului Satu Mare), voi. I- II, Buda, 1800. The Jesuits in Sătmar (Abstract) The purpose of the present article is to investigate the activity of the Society of Jesus in the north-eastern part of the Carpathian Basin and particularly in Satu Mare County. The first Jesuit convent was established in Hungary in 1561, in Nagyszombat (Trnava, Slovakia). Not long after their setdement in Transylvania (1581), the Jesuit monks arrived in Sam Mare, too. In 1630, Emperor Ferdinand the 2nd donated a property inside the castle of Sam Mare to the Jesuits, where they founded their first convent (the so-called antiqua residentid). In 1636, the monks re-established the casde parish. The same year, Cardinal Pázmány Péter signed the donation for the building of a college in Sam Mare. After the Jesuits were setded, more and more donations were granted by the aristocracy and the king. The activity of the Jesuit school started in the autumn of 1639, under the leadership of P. Kerzi (Kerczy) László, but only as an inferior gymnasium (a school with four grades). At the request of the Protestants and in the purpose of maintaining the unity of his army, Prince Gheorghe Rákóczi the 2nd ordered in 1654 the expulsion of foreign Jesuits. As a result, the monks of Sam Mare were forced to leave the school and take refuge in the surrounding area: Carei, Apateu, Vinogradiv, helping the Catholics there. Six years later, in 1660, they were able to return to Sam Mare and continue their educational activity. The Society of Jesus was dissolved by the Pope in 1773, and re-established only in 1814, by Pope Pius VII. The Jesuits re-setded in Sam Mare in 1858, at the initiative of Bishop Hám János. They received from the Chapter of Sam Mare the building of the convict and the surrounding garden, the possession in Guruslău and three properties on a street nearby, where they were to build a church and a convent. In its turn, the Society assumed the administration of the convent established by Bishop Hám János, the religious service in the church of the nuns and their spiritual guidance. The educational activity of the monks became more and more wider. At the beginning, the convent of the Jesuits could host 25 students, but in the last decades of the 19th century, its capacity reached 80 persons. In 1861, Bishop Haas Mihály decided to give the theological seminary of Sam Mare to the Jesuits. New buildings started to arise as a result of the order’s activity. In 1907, the old chapel of the casde, in a bad state already at the arrival of the Jesuits, was demolished, and the construction of a new church begun. The new church of Calvaria was dedicated to the Heart of Jesus and it was consecrated in 1909. In the same period, the old convent of the Jesuits of the 18th century, later used as a bishopric seat was demolished, and a new gymnasium was built on the same spot. In 1912, the new gymnasium was built, and the construction work at the new convent begun. After the First World War, the Jesuits were re-organized. The convict of the bishopric and the Jesuits were unified in 1927, and from that moment on, the new institution was administrated only by lay priests. Only in 1941, during World War II, after Sam Mare became a part of Hungary again, the Society of Jesus re-assumed the administration of the bishopric convent. The situation lasted only for a few years. In 1944, Sam Mare was assigned to Romania, and in 1949 all the religious orders were dissolved, and their assets were entirely nationalized. The remained Jesuit monks continued to live in Sam Mare, but as parish priests. 42
