Petrőczi Éva: Holt költők társaságában. A Puritanizmuskutató Intézet és a Medgyesi Pál Puritán Kiskönyvtár emlékére - Nemzet, egyház, művelődés 9. (Sárospatak, 2014)
István Czeglédi, the Martyr-Preacher of Kassa and a Faithful Student of the Netherlands
his behalf. Most likely István Czeglédi’s peculiar circumstances, his being very often the target of Catholic attacks, of notorious „Protestant-hunters” can be in the background of this amnesia. In the middle of the bitter daily fights he simply had no energy for such polite and almost compulsory gestures of cultural and ecclesiastical diplomacy. It’s enough to have a look at Diest’s calm, harmonious, and oddly enough “Hungarian-shaped” face and we understand, that István Czeglédi, the martyr of our Protestantism had to follow a more athlete of Christ-like, more fighter-like figure of Dutch theology, whom he found in his other tutor, Fridrik Spanheim.298 Though it’s not as true as a photo, only an engraving from a secondary source, we can rely on the artistic merit of the work of Jacob van Meurs who was considered to be one of the best engravers of 17th-century Holland. On the other hand, though not the great Diestius himself, but the town of Deventer, plus other important Dutch settlements and personalities richly appear in István Czeglédi’s numerous publications. Of course, our examples can’t be more than sporadic, they can’t represent the whole oeuvre of Czeglédi, but they illustrate our hero’s life-long affinity towards the Netherlands. The present example number one of this everlasting bond is an indirect one, it’s only nearing the Netherlands, when mentioning a neighbour-country, Belgium. This highly eschatological quasi-catechism was published in Kassa (Kaschau-Kosice), in 1659, about the decay and fall of the sinful countries. It was typical theme in our region, a representative of the rich Hungarian apocalyptic. In this dialogue we can read the following sentences: “Question: And for which countries took the Blessed Virgin Mary special care? Answer: 2.) For Constantinople; a.) for Flanders and b.) Antwerp; and even for Hungary”299 300 Also in the very same year, and also at the famous print of Severinus Marcus, István Czeglédi published another book, entitled On the Spiritual Fight of the Absolved Sinner?00 This book is the most “Deventerian” episode of his oeuvre. It is polka-dotted by references to maritime culture, to the life of a harbour, and also to the fauna of the waters. As an additional feature, 298 Hendrik Diest’s portrait was drawn by A. Glauwe, engraved by Jacob van Meurs. 299 In Hungarian: „Hát a’ Boldog Szűz Mária, mi-csoda helyekre visel gondot? 2.) Constat- ntinápolyra; a) Flandriára; b.) Antwerpiára; még Magyar országrais...”- Czeglédi István 1659/1,144. 300 Czeglédi István 1659/11. 139
