Casa di Santo Stefano or Szent István Ház is the Hungarian pilgrim's hostel in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, located in Via del Casaletto 481.

Background

The first Hungarian pilgrim's hostel in Rome was established by King Stephen I of Hungary next to the church of Santo Stefano degli Ungheresi in Vatican. The hostel received travelers from the Kingdom of Hungary through 700 years. It was pulled down by Pope Pius VI in 1776 when he built a new sacristy for the St Peter's Basilica. The Pope gave 7,500 scudos as compensation for the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum. Only in the 20th century was the old pilgrim's hostel of St. Stephen re-established by Catholic emigrants who left the country after the

1956 Hungarian Revolution The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

History

Erzsébet Fáy became the nurse of a wealthy English gentleman, Lord Oliver Duncan and inherited his fortune. Erzsébet Fáy made contact with József Zágon, the Regent of the

Hungarian Papal Institute Hungarian may refer to: * Hungary, a country in Central Europe * Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946 * Hungarians, ethnic groups in Hungary * Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the assignme ...

and leader of the Hungarian emigrant community in Rome. She made a donation for a new pilgrim's hostel. In 1965 József Zágon bought a parcel in the

Gianicolense Gianicolense is the 12th ''quartiere'' of Rome (Italy), identified by the initials Q. XII. It belongs to the Municipio XI and Municipio XII. It takes its name from the Janiculum hill, which lies in the nearby ''rione'' Trastevere and whose weste ...

district of Rome from a lawyer named Pasini for 120 million liras. At that time Via del Casaletto was a rural neighbourhood with pastures and reeds but in the next decades it became a suburb of the growing city. Hungarian university students who went into exile after 1956 gave 16 million liras for buying the lot. The remaining part of the sum was donated by Hungarians living in the United States and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. The modern hostel was inaugurated on 20 August 1967. It is the property of the St. Stephen Foundation but run by the Congregatio Sororum Scholarum de Kalocsa (

Kalocsai Iskolanővérek Kalocsai or Kalocsay (meaning "from Kalocsa") is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Kalocsai * Henrik Kalocsai, Hungarian jumper in the 1960s Kalocsay * Géza Kalocsay (1913–2008), Hungarian football (soccer) player and man ...

), a Hungarian religious order for women. Casa di Santo Stefano was visited by the exiled leader of the Catholic Church,

József Mindszenty József Mindszenty (; 29 March 18926 May 1975) was a Hungarian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Esztergom and leader of the Catholic Church in Hungary from 1945 to 1973. According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', ...

on 2 October 1971. The house is a popular place of accommodation for Hungarian travelers and pilgrims in Rome from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and other countries. It is decorated with the paintings of an emigrant priest-artist, Péter Prokop and surrounded with a garden. The Casa di Santo Stefano was consecrated by Cardinal Péter Erdő,

Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

in September 2021. Also present was

Miklós Soltész Miklós Soltész (born 23 July 1963) is a Hungarian plant engineer and politician, who served as Secretary of State for Social and Family Affairs in the Second Orbán Government between 2010 and 2014. He is the current Secretary of State for Churc ...

, Hungarian state secretary for church and minority relations. "Hungarian pilgrims’ hostel Casa di Santo Stefano inaugurated in Rome", ''Daily News Hungary'', September 27, 2021
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casa Di Santo Stefano Buildings and structures in Rome Culture of Hungary Hungarian diaspora in Italy