Magyar News, 1998. szeptember-1999. augusztus (9. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1999-02-01 / 6. szám
by Erika Papp Faber One day in the spring of 1949, Mom took us to the movies only to see the newsreel showing Cardinal József Mindszenty at his “show trial” staged by the Communist government, since news from Hungary, our native land, was extremely hard to come by. We saw a very feeble-looking cleric, with haunted eyes, speaking not much above a whisper, acknowledging he had committed crimes against the Hungarian State, and being sentenced to life imprisonment. Mom was appalled at the way the Cardinal looked. "They must have done something to him," she kept saying. (The word "brainwashing" had not yet entered the vocabulary of the free world.) That brief newsreel clip made a great impression on me as a child. It was my first glimpse of Cardinal Mindszenty, whom Bishop Fulton Sheen called a "dry martyr". Cardinal Mindszenty was freed from prison during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and he sought refuge in the American embassy in Budapest when Russian tanks crushed that bid for freedom. He left the country at the request of Pope Paul VI, in 1971 and took up residence in Vienna. In 1973, Cardinal Mindszenty made his first brief visit to the United States. Since I speak Hungarian, I volunteered my services as a freelance reporter to Religious News Service, and was at the airport when he arrived, and at the rededication of St. Ladislaus Church in New Brunswick, which was the main focus of his visit. The following year, when Cardinal Mindszenty came to the U.S. for a longer tour; I was again in possession of a press pass, following him around the greater New Yor k area. I filed a dozen stories with Religious News Service, and several more with a Hungarian-language weekly, reporting on the various homilies and speeches the Cardinal gave. I thus came to know quite well his secretary, whom I also interviewed. He even arranged an exclusive interview for me with the Cardinal. And I met the man I would marry by following the Cardinal's admonition to support our local Hungarian church. Cardinal Mindszenty died, on May 6, 1975, just weeks before our wedding. His secretary sent us what was probably the Cardinal's last signature, affixed to a blessing on our marriage. When my Mom was diagnosed with liver cancer, I asked for a relic of the Cardinal. A half-inch piece of his red sash, attached to a postcard photo of the Cardinal, was mailed to me. Invoking the Cardinal's intercession, I placed that card in Mom's hospital drawer. But Mom's time had come, and she died in the hospital. A few years later, Dad's diabetes went out of control, and he eventually had to have an amputation. Once again I prayed to Cardinal Mindszenty for his intercession, seemingly to no avail, as Dad died following another operation. By that time, my husband had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. A very difficult seven years followed. We moved to Connecticut to be close to relatives. I remembered the card with Cardinal Mindszenty's sash, and placed it on the nightstand next to my husband's bed. One day, after an especially trying time, I became very upset. "Look at all I've done for you!" I screamed at the Cardinal's picture on the card. "I gave you a lot of publicity, papers around the country picked up my reports about what you said and did. I've been praying for your help for Mom, for Dad, and now my husband, and you have never helped me! I'm not going to pray to you any more!" With that, I took the card and threw it in a drawer. Still fuming, I went about my business, straightening up my husband's room. All of a sudden my attention was drawn to the window, where a big red bird was tapping on die glass and flapping its wings. 1 admired its big beak, and the gorgeous color, as it flapped there for what seemed a good two minutes. Then it flew away. As I went back to my chores, the penny finally dropped: "That was a cardinal!" Sheepishly, I went back to the drawer, and took out again the card with the piece from Cardinal Mindszenty's sash. "I'm sorry!" I said to him, and put it back on the nightstand. No, my husband did not recover. He died on November 1, 1992. But never before or since has a bird of any kind ever tapped on my windows! This article was first published in PASTORAL LIFE THREE OF THE FIRST IN GOLD You would have something very special in your purse if it looked something like the coin in the picture.The time of its minting is debatable. Some researchers claim that it was issued by St. Stephen, others claim that St. Ladislaus had it made for the time when St. Stephen was canonized in 1083. Coins minted of precious metals were common at that time. The standard was established by the Byzantine coins. St. Stephen had silver ones made for general use. This coin was different because it was made of gold, actually it weighs 4.52 g-s just az the Byzantine Solidus..The diameter of it is a little less than an inch. On the face it reads “+Stephanus Rex” and on the back side an unidentified head bearing a crown. Also the word”+Pannonia”. In its time it was worth 40 silver dinars. Since this means very little in our age to our readers, I will compare it to the original Hungarian barter value, so it is equal to the price of a steer. The most exciting feature of this coin is that nobody knows how many were minted, but as it is known only three of these are existing in the whole world. Today it sure is worth more then a steer. 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