Calvin Synod Herald, 1976 (76. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1976-05-01 / 5-6. szám

6

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

"Fidelissimus Ad Mortem”

I came to the United States 62 years ago, and for 42 years I have been an active participant in many activities of the Americans of Hungarian origin. It was what nowadays is called “ethnic” activity. However, I discovered soon enough that there are two kinds of this “ethnicity”. it can be “chauvinistic” or “creative”. I participated in both of them - but I had to realize that the MORE worthwhile and fruitful kind is the time-resistant, enduring “creative” ethnicity, “when ethnic groups and Americans learn about themselves and one another - in order to interact constructively.”

About 50 years ago I dedicated myself to the research and collection of every kind of information about the history of the Hungarians in America.

Today, at this occasion, you are not honoring a man, but the result of this 50 years long endeavor. This result is a historical collection, which, according to competent scholars, - is unique in the world, without which no writing of the eventual definitive history of the American-Hungarians is conceivable.

The entire work is condensed in its most important part, in 430 uniform, crowded loose-leaf volumes in lexical, ABC order, among them 7 volumes of data and documents about Michael Koicáts, while the memorabilia of the unforgettable journey of Louis Kossuth, which lasted about 8 months, fill 35 volumes. Many volumes separately are dedicated to the most notable people, like Budai Parmenius, Alexander Bölöni Farkas, Augustin Haraszthy, Count Moritz Benyovszky, Arpad Gerster, Charles Feleky, Ferenc Molnár, Edward and Joseph Reményi, and many others.

More than 20,000 file cards, with bio and bibliographical information, a small library of books, a large amount of large size, loose material, pictures, etc. And copies of my articles, more than a thousand, complete the collection.

The collection, after my incapacity or death will go to Hungary, as a gift to one of the great libraries of my native city, SZEGED, - to be an indispensable depository for future research. Thanks to the generous gift of the Rockefeller Foundation, a microfilm copy of the collection remains in the United States, in custody of the American Hungarian Foundation of New Brunswick, N. J., founded and headed by our good friend and colleague, Prof. August J. Molnár.

What is in this collection? Everything, which a solitary man, without help, advice or encouragement of any kind, was able to gather in 50 years, about the connections of Hungarian culture and civilization with the culture of the United States and the Englishspeaking world, from the Shakespeare-ian times (1582) when the first Hungarian, a young clergyman of the Reformed Church and the foremost Latin poet of his time, STEPHEN PARMENIUS BUDAI set his foot on American soil, in the port of St. John’s in Newfoundland, Canada. The leader of an English expedition, Sir Humphrey GILBERT appointed him to be the official historian of the important adventure. Before they sailed from England, Parmenius, hoping to be included among the personnel, wrote a long Latin poem in hexameters, in which he envisions the possible emergence of a democratic world overseas, asking:

“Why would it be preposterous to imagine that a nation will emerge there, where freedom and talent wjll not be repressed by birth, wealth or power, where all will be equal as citizens and everyone will be able to enjoy the fruits of his endeavors?”

With Sir Humphrey, he found his grave in the ocean.

Later in the Revolutionary War there were a few Hungarian soldiers. The first to sacrifice his life for American freedom and independence, was Col. MICHAEL KOWÁTS, second in command of the Pulaski Legion, who died before Charleston, S. C., May 11, 1779 (today is the anniversary of his death). He suggested the slogan for the future generation of Hungarian Americans, at the end of his letter, written in Latin, in which he offered his services for the American cause, to Benjamin FRANKLIN (1777 Jan. 13, Bordeaux, France):

“FIDELISSIMUS AD MORTEM” “Faithful unto death”. - The Hungarian-Americans adopted this slogan and never deviated from it.

Hundreds of Hungarians fought in the Civil War in the armies of the North, several of them becoming general officers. One of them was awarded the highest military decoration of the nation, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Other thousands participated in the foreign wars of the nation, repaying - at least partly - what the country did for their forefathers and themselves.

And in the decades of peace, other armies of Hungarians came, to find refuge or new opportunities: armies of laboring and intellectual people. So - during more than half of the lifetime of the 200 years old United States - at least one million Hungarians loyally contributed brain and brawn, blood and life, that the MIRACLE, called UNITED STATES, could not only be born, but exist and prosper.

I am happy and grateful for your recognition of my modest endeavors, and consider myself fortunate to have been able to dedicate so many years of my life to it. Through this work, I fondly hope, I have repaid - at least a small part of my debt to my adoptive country, for all the blessings I received from her.

I hope that my collection will be a mighty testimony and proof to our justly proud claim, that the Americans of Hungarian origin helped this great country of ours not only to be born, to exist and pros-