President opens St Martin memorial year

Budapest (MTI) – The message of the St Martin memorial year is that Hungary’s rich intellectual heritage has more than just cultural value and also serves as a moral guide, President Janos Ader said at the opening of the memorial year at the Archabbey of Pannonhalma in western Hungary on Wednesday.

Traditions offer more than just a connection to the past; they remain points of reference in the future as well, Ader said after a mass held by Cardinal Peter Erdo, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest.

Ader noted that Hungarian Grand Prince Geza founded the Archabbey of Pannonhalma and dedicated it to St Martin at the end of the tenth century because “he knew that our place in Europe was more than just a spot on the map”. Geza saw St Martin as the guardian of Christian virtues.

St Martin led a creative life as a bishop and fought for his beliefs, Cardinal Erdo said. Martin stood up against superstitions, poverty, misery and “all forms of evil”. He was tough, brave and lived a simple life, one quite different from his peers, Erdo said.

In March, the government declared 2016 a St Martin memorial year to mark the 1700th anniversary of the legendary bishop’s birth. Martin was born in the Roman province of Pannonia near the city of Savaria, what is today Szombathely, in 316.

The son of a wealthy military officer, he was required to join the cavalry when he turned fifteen. He became baptized in 339. His good deeds and his compassion and empathy for the poor became legendary and by popular demand he was appointed to bishop of Tours in 371. Legend has it that Martin reluctantly allowed himself to be consecrated bishop. Upon realising the true purpose of his summons to Tours, Martin is said to have hidden in a barn full of geese whose frantic cackling betrayed his location.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters