Liszka József (szerk.): Az Etnológiai Központ Évkönyve 2008-2009 - Acta Ethnologica Danubiana 10-11. (Dunaszerdahely-Komárno, 2009)

Tanulmányok - Bárth Dániel: A nyugati és a keleti kereszténység határá. Vallási együttélés és konfliktusok a dél-magyarországi Bácskában a 18. században (Összefoglalás)

convent of Zombor it was recorded that in 1767 Rochus Szmendrovich provided spiritual comfort for an Orthodox convict, as a consequence of which the man, prior to his execution, converted to Roman Catholicism.

If we take a look at the fairly belated date of these events, we might come to the issue of how the spectacular exorcist deeds that were at that time almost completely repressed in western Europe survived in this classical border-area of western and eastern Christianity, in this market town of Bácska incorporating the two religious and cultural forms. An inverse parallel tendency can be drawn between the mentality of Serbs in Zombor who, being disappointed at the magical abilities of their own popes turned to a Roman Catholic friar, and the Roman Catholic and Calvinist Hungarians in Transylvania who visited Rumanian priests so as to be provided with similar services. (Keszeg 1996; Komáromi 1996)

The protagonist of this story can also be interpreted as one of the transmitters of the medieval ecclesiastical practice in the early modern era. It was the Franciscan order that transmitted and kept alive medieval ecclesiastical benediction and exorcism for the longest time in Hungary. This practice of the Franciscans during the 17th and 18th centuries, owing to the gradually altered ecclesiastical mentality - became unofficial and allowed only tacitly. Owing to this change in mentality in this story from the 18lh century not only the diocese authority but a part of the Franciscans in Zombor also opposed this charismatic personality (Hoško 2000; Midelfort 2005; Bárth 2008).

As a summary that is based upon not really the instances and cases having been presented here but upon my former sets of investigations, I would claim that in Bácska during the 18th century a relative harmony of religions co-existence can be observed. This more or less idyllic situation can especially be appreciated from a retrospective view being aware of the blood-soaked and painful history of the 19th and chiefly the 20th centuries. This period was prior to the general spread of the 19th and 20th century idea of nationalism, which, in this region, was always necessarily connected to religious contents. The presence of religious tolerance could have been promoted by the fact that in this region that was re-inhabitated in the 18ih century, there were no original inhabitants, there was not one dominant nationality, ethnic group or denomination, since the population was made up of new-comers. As long as the sense of being a new-comer was preserved and kept alive, religious life was subject to this relative tolerance. When this sense and identity disappeared, completely different views and values began to dominate. But all these are beyond my presentation’s theme and scope of competence.

Bibliography

Bárth Dániel

2003 Bácskai népszokások a XVIII. századi egyházi források tükrében. In Bács-Bodrogtól Bács-Kiskunig. Ed.: Bárth János. Baja-Kecskemét, 27-45. p.

2005 Ördögűző Rókus testvér. Képek egy XVIII. századi zombori ferences életéből. In A ferences lelkiség hatása az újkori Küzép-Európa történetére és kultúrájára. 1/1. Ed.: Őze Sándor-Medgyesy-Schmikli Norbert. Piliscsaba-Budapest, 271-287. p.

2008 Papok és démonok viadala: exorcizmus a kora újkori Magyarországon. In Démonok, látók, szentek. Vallásetnológiai fogalmak tudományközi megközelítésben. Ed.: Pócs Éva. Budapest, 59-68. p.

58