A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historica 10. (Szeged, 2007)

ORBÁN Imre: A római katolikus közösség története Kiszomboron

Saint Helen) on the flags of the church. There are statues also of Saint Sebastian, Saint Rochus and Saint Rosalia, who are protectors against the pest. The community received a small piece of the Holy Cross in 1824 as a relic. The believers erected several crosses in the village and surroundings. They painted images depicting the Stations of the Cross, Saint Ann, Saint Joseph, Jesus in Gethsemane and Mater Dolorosa. The community erected another statute of King Saint Stephen on the church square in 1896. In 1910 they built a new church as a major venture of the period. Several religious communities worked within the parish: the society of the so called Mary-girls (Mária-lányok), the Congregation of the Living Rosary, the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Catholic Popular Association, and the Franciscan Third Order. The First World War and the foreign (French, Serbian) occupation affected village life to a great extent. After men joined the army news of deaths came. Wives of the soldiers found themselves in a difficult situation. They were worried about their husbands, at the same time they had to look after their children and the old. After the Trianon Treaty Kiszombor became a border settlement. Serbian troops looted the village, and the Trianon Treaty reduced the territory of its surrounding area. Religious life soon revived. The church was renovated and three new church bells were cast. The village gained national fame due to the frescos found and uncovered in the church in 1939. In religious life of the youth the Roman Catholic Girls' Association founded in 1932 and the Catholic Boys' Association of the Agrarian Youth founded in 1934 played important roles. On 7

th February, 1938 the body of representatives of Kiszombor decided to place crosses in all official rooms, in the conference room and in the poorhouse, claiming that the "population of the settlement was Catholic, religious and pious". The Second World War and afterwards the Communist regime brought about serious difficulties. Russian troops occupied the region. 300 people got into captivity, several were deported. People of the village prevented twice the arrest of their chaplain, Sándor Körmendy. The anti-Church campaign strengthened at the end of the 1940s and at the beginning of the 1950s. Representatives of the regime aimed to eliminate the Church in the village. The most aggressive attack was against religious education. In spite of this Kiszombor remained a religious village even in the first half of the 1950s. Violent forcing into the collective farms was also a crucial turn. In 1960 Kiszombor was declared "a settlement with a collective farm". For the inhabitants this was difficult to live through, also psychically. In 1960 religious education ended in schools. Data of the register (baptisms, first communion, confirmation, marriages) reflect unfavourable tendencies in the period. The change of the regime (1989) brought about a kind of revival, although it did not influence all the Catholic population. According to the census of 2001 61.4% of the inhabitants declared themselves Roman Catholic.