Folia Theologica 9. (1998)

György Benyik: Hungarian Bible Translation

218

GY. BENYIK

of the Cave Chapel here used to be a monastery of the Hungarian Pauline order. A three-naved, forty-eight-meter-long basilica was built there for the community together with the residence of the Paulines. László Báthori, dissatisfied with military life, studied art and later joined the order to lead the life of a hermit in a cave near Great Lime Hill (Nagy - Hárshegy). There he translated the complete Bible. The unhealthy circumstances and the hard work exhausted him and ruined his health. Hence, shortly after he had finished the translation, he returned to the monastery, where he died. According to tradition, King Matthias placed this book into his library and it became one of his Corvinas.24 During the course of the Turkish occupation of Hungary most of the Corvinas were destroyed or scattered. It is to be regretted that László Báthori’s translation is not among the Corvinas known today. Since this work was lost almost without trace, some experts doubt its existence, but Gergely Gyenesi, who wrote the history of the Pauline order, mentions it.

Catholic and Protestant Printed Bibles

In Hungary, not unlike in other countries of Europe, printing was connected with the spread of the Reformation and was only later used by Catholics. In Hungary, one of the reasons for this was, that most Church leaders died at the battlefield of Mohács in 1526. After the partition of the country it was very difficult to organize a working Catholic Church. The servicing of the religious needs of the Turkish-occupied territory remained in the care of the Franciscans. They were left with only one monastery, located in the so-called Low-Town district in the city of Szeged. These problems were among the antecedents of the Hungarian Reformation.

The Epistles of St. Paul in Hungarian Language by BENEDEK KOMJÁTI25 is a nice example of the literary influence of Humanism in Hungary. As a source he used not only the version made by Erasmus of

24 The library had 2000-2500 volumes, mainly codices, and was the second best known European library after the Library of Vatican. 216 authentic Corvinas are known today in 49 libraries of 43 cities in 16 countries, cf. CSAPODI, Cs. The Corvinian Library, History and Stock. Budapest, 1973.; about the false Corvinas: CSAPODI, Cs.-CSAPODINÉ GÁRDONYI, K. Bibliotheca Corviniana. Budapest, 1990.

25 KOMJÁTI, Benedek. Az Zeent Paal levelei magyar nyelven. Cracow, 1533.