Századok – 2014

MŰHELY - Kádár Zsófia: Jezsuita vezetésű vallásos társulatok Magyarországon a 17. században (1582-1671) V/1229

JEZSUITA VALLÁSOS TÁRSULATOK MAGYARORSZÁGON ... (1582-1671) 1271

RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS UNDER JESUIT LEADERSHIP IN HUNGARY IN THE 17th CENTURY (1582-1671)

by Zsófia Kádár (Summary)

The early modern religious societies under the leadership of the Society of Jesus can be ranged into several types. Due to the reforming efforts within the Roman Catholic Church, upon the instigation of the Jesuit founding fathers and in the wake of the decrees of the Council of Trident, by 1564 the Society of Mary had become institutionalised within the Order. The congregation established for the students of the present Collegium Romanum in Rome aimed at promoting its members in both matters of faith and of education. By the late 16th century this religious institution had spread throughout France, Southern Germany and Austria as well. Trough a process of differentiation, congregations for adults were also formed alongside those for students. These student and urban congregations were all linked to the Roman congregation as a maternal institution. From the middle of the 17th century a new type of society appeared within the Jesuit order, namely that of the so-called Agónia Christi. These congregations, which mainly focussed on the passion of Christ and good death, were especially popular in the lower regions of society. In the Kingdom of Hungary they appeared simultaneously with the Roman foundation, and they always numbered far more members than other congregations, sometimes amounting to several thousand.

In Hungary the student and urban congregations were organised a little later than in the Austrian provinces, and adapted to the local circumstances. Their spread was closely connected to the establishment of the Jesuit network of colleges. Within the process four consecutive waves can be distinguished: I. The earliest student congregations were founded in the late 16th century at Kolozsvár (Cluj), Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia) and Vágsellye (Sal’a). II. In those places which later became the key Jesuit centres in the Kingdom of Hungary, namely Zagreb and Nagyszombat (Trnava), the first student congregations followed shortly the establishment of the colleges, and were themselves followed by the organisation of several urban and Agónia Christi congregations. In Zagreb altogether five congregations were formed, and at Nagyszombat seven. III. In the colleges established in the 1620s and 1630s at Pozsony (Bratislava), Gyor and Sopron likewise the whole spectrum of congregational fife emerged. In the college of Homonna the congregations could only function continuously after their transfer to Ungvár (U horod). IV And finally, the Jesuit form of congregation reached the more distant regions of the Kingdom of Hungary and also the territory under Ottoman occupation, where it was predominantly in smaller colleges and permanent missionary stations that student congregations and Agónia Christi societies were established. The latter were easier to get accepted in an area with a population of mixed confessional structure and of a Protestant majority.

Alongside regular (weekly, monthly and annual) gatherings and festivities, a common element in the activities of these congregations was intense prayer worship and the frequent taking of the sacraments by the members. The student and urban congregations were integrated into the religious and social life of their host town through spectacular processions and publications of their own (monthly saints, prayer books). Excessive ascetics (e.g. public flagellation) and the veneration of the Blessed Mary and of the saints was another important feature of these societies. The student congregations also played an important role in maintaining interest in clerical careers, and the urban groupings in providing the cohesion for the local elites. In the Agónia congregations additional emphasis was put on the vernacular preaching of the members, as well as on the care for the sick, the poor and the dying, the burial of the dead and praying for them. Lent was celebrated with especial fervour, and their titular feast was also held then.

Some among the fathers (such as Sándor Dobokay, Ádám Holovics) played a key role in the spread of the congregational form in Hungary. The gradual recovery of the catholic Church increased social support for the congregations as well. Thus, the upper and middle layers both of the Hungarian Church and of Catholic lay society played an equally important role in the successful local adaptation of the universal Jesuit model. Yet the period under consideration here was but the precursor of the unfolding and flourishing of Baroque congregational life in Hungary in the 18th century.