Szilárd Ignác Bogdánffy (21 February 1911 – 3 October 1953) was a Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of

Satu Mare Satu Mare (; hu, Szatmárnémeti ; german: Sathmar; yi, סאטמאר or ) is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011). It is the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the centre of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. It lies in the ...

and

Oradea Oradea (, , ; german: Großwardein ; hu, Nagyvárad ) is a city in Romania, located in Crișana, a sub-region of Transylvania. The county seat, seat of Bihor County, Oradea is one of the most important economic, social and cultural centers in the ...

of the

Latins The Latins were originally an Italic tribe in ancient central Italy from Latium. As Roman power and colonization spread Latin culture during the Roman Republic. Latins culturally "Romanized" or "Latinized" the rest of Italy, and the word Latin ...

. On 30 October 2010 he was proclaimed

blessed Blessed may refer to: * The state of having received a blessing * Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified Film and television * ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...

in a ceremony held in the

Cathedral Basilica of St. Mary, Oradea The Cathedral Basilica of St. Mary ( ro, Catedrala romano-catolică Adormirea Maicii Domnului) also called the Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption, is the cathedral church of the Latin Diocese of Oradea Mare. It is located in the city of Oradea, ...

, Romania, being recognized as a martyr of the Communist period.

Biography

Szilárd Bogdánffy was born to ethnic Hungarian parents on 21 February 1911 in the village of Feketetó, then part of Torontál County, Austria-Hungary; today called Crna Bara, near the town of Kikinda, district Northern Banat, autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. He lived there with his family until 1925. He was

baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

in the parish church of Čoka to which his village belonged and where his father was a cantor. The Bogdánffy family is a Transylvanian Armenian family which was granted nobility by the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

. The Bogdánffys are a branch of the ancient Armenian Gajzágó family, one of the families that built the Transylvanian town of Szamosujvár (Armenopolis, Gherla now in Romania) in the 18th century, and which gave many Armenian Catholic (in union with Rome) priests to the town which became the Armenian Catholic bishopric of Transylvania.

Study and priesthood

Bogdánffy went to elementary school in Crna Bara until 1925, when the Bogdánffy family moved to Timișoara, a city in Romania, in the eastern part of Banat. There he went to the

Piarist The Piarists (), officially named the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools ( la, Ordo Clericorum Regularium pauperum Matris Dei Scholarum Piarum), abbreviated SchP, is a religious order of clerics regular of the ...

s high school. After his final exams, he was accepted to the Catholic seminary of the Latin-rite Diocese of Oradea. He was ordained a priest by the bishop of Oradea, , on 29 June 1934. He continued his studies at the University of Budapest, where he earned a PhD in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and dogmatics, with a thesis on "Apocalyptics in the

Synoptic Gospels The gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Mark, and Gospel of Luke, Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical ...

". Upon his return to Romania he became professor of the Catholic seminary in Oradea and confessor at the Ursuline convent in the city. In 1939 he was followed by the Royal Romanian Secret Services for alleged anti-Romanian activity. During World War II – because he was hiding Jews – he was also interrogated by the Hungarian

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

"Nyílas" gendarmes.

Bishop in secret

After the end of the war, the new Romanian communist leadership started a campaign against the Christian religion (especially against Catholics). As a consequence, the Vatican allowed secret consecration of bishops. Dr. Szilárd Bogdánffy was consecrated as bishop of Oradea of the Latins and auxiliary bishop of

on 14 February 1949 by Gerald Patrick O'Hara, Regent of the Apostolic Nunciature to Bucharest. The new bishop was arrested and imprisoned only two months later. He had previously been approached, on several occasions, by representatives of the regime, with the request that he lead an "independent Romanian Latin-rite Church, with no ties to the Vatican" which he adamantly refused. Until his death he spent four years as a captive in various prisons throughout Romania, including the evil-reputed Cape Midia camp at the

Danube–Black Sea Canal The Danube–Black Sea Canal ( ro, Canalul Dunăre–Marea Neagră) is a navigable canal in Romania, which runs from Cernavodă on the Danube river, via two branches, to Constanța and Năvodari on the Black Sea. Administered from Agigea, it ...

. He fell seriously ill, being affected by bad conditions and regular torture. At

Aiud Prison Aiud Prison is a prison complex in Aiud, Alba County, located in central Transylvania, Romania. It is infamous for the treatment of its political inmates, especially during World War II under the rule of Ion Antonescu, and later under the Commu ...

, as the Byzantine rite Catholic bishop of Lugoj,

Ioan Ploscaru Ioan Ploscaru (19 November 1911 – 31 July 1998) was a Romanian bishop of the Greek-Catholic Church. Born into a peasant family in Frata commune, Cluj County, he studied in Blaj. He was ordained a priest in 1933 and a bishop in November 1948 ...

recalled, Bishop Bogdánffy was "humble and serene, always ready to help his fellow sufferers". Although lying sick with serious pneumonia, the prison doctor refused him the necessary medication claiming he was not worthy of it. He died in solitary confinement on 3 October 1953 at Aiud Prison.

Beatification

His beatification took place on 30 October 2010 in

. Saint mass with 200 priests, 42 bishops and two cardinals guided and during it preached

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, President of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE). The same ceremony of beatification was presided by the

and Archbishop Angelo Amato, President of the Congregation for causes of the Saints. He is the first Catholic martyred during the Communist regime in Romania to be elevated to the honor of the altars.

Notes

: Timișoara (german: Temeschburg, also ''Temeswar'' or ''Temeschwar'', hu, Temesvár,

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

: Темишвар, ''Temišvar'', tr, Tamışvar) is a city in the Banat region of western Romania. It is the capital of Timiș County. :Stefan or István Fiedler was born in the Banat too, in Nagybecskerek, today Zrenjanin, Serbia.

References

Bibliography

, ''Lanțuri și teroare'', Editura Signata, Timișoara, 1993, pp. 185–189. *

László Böcskei László Böcskei (; born July 11, 1965) is a Romanian cleric, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oradea Mare. Born into an ethnic Hungarian family in Gătaia (''Gátalja''), Timiș County, he studied at the Roman Catholic Theological Insti ...

püspök: Imafüzet (Isten Szolgája/Boldog) Bogdánffy Szilárd vértanú püspökhöz, Rómaikatolikus Püspökség Nagyvárad 2010, p. 36.

External links

magnificat.ro

Report about new Blessed

News: Erdély ma

Erdély ma from: 6. IV. 2010

Catholic Newspaper: Magyar Kurír

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bogdanffy, Szilard 1911 births 1953 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Romanian beatified people Romanian religious leaders of Hungarian descent Romanian anti-communist clergy Inmates of the Danube–Black Sea Canal Inmates of Aiud prison Deaths from pneumonia in Romania Hungarian beatified people Hungarian anti-communists 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Romania Beatifications by Pope Benedict XVI Prisoners who died in Securitate custody Romanian people who died in prison custody