Stephen Pongracz ( hu, Pongrácz István; 1584–1619) was a Hungarian

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest, martyr and

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Biography

Stephen Pongracz was born in Alvincz Castle in Principality of Transylvania, entered the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

in 1602, and studied in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He had been ordained for four years when he was sent to Kassa,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

, (today

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...

, Slovakia) with fellow Jesuit

Melchior Grodziecki Melchior Grodziecki (c. 1582 – 7 September 1619) was a Silesian Jesuit priest. He is considered a martyr and saint by the Catholic Church. He was canonized in 1995 and is liturgically commemorated on 7 September. Biography He was born in Tě ...

. The two Jesuits were working in small towns when they heard the news that a Calvinist army was marching on Kassa in an attempt to expand the territory of

Gabriel Bethlen Gabriel Bethlen ( hu, Bethlen Gábor; 15 November 1580 – 15 November 1629) was Prince of Transylvania from 1613 to 1629 and Duke of Opole from 1622 to 1625. He was also King-elect of Hungary from 1620 to 1621, but he never took control of th ...

, prince of Transylvania. The two Jesuits returned to Kassa where they were joined by a diocesan priest, Fr.

Marko Krizin Marko Stjepan Krizin ( 1589 – 7 September 1619), or Marko Križevčanin ( hu, Kőrösi Márk, en, Mark of Križevci, link=yes, italics=yes) was a Croats, Croatian Catholic Church in Croatia, Roman Catholic Catholic priest, priest, profes ...

. The Transylvanian army took control of the city on 5 September 1619, and immediately confined the three priests to the Jesuit residence. Before dawn on 7 September, soldiers broke into their quarters and demanded that they apostatize and accept Calvinism. When the priests refused to do so, the soldiers began to torture them and finally beheaded them. The bodies of the martyrs were recovered, after negotiations with

, and were buried in the vicinity of Kassa. In 1636, they were moved to Nagyszombat (today

Trnava Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' (Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' (Trna ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

Veneration and canonization

The cause of beatification of the Kassa martyrs began in 1628 and they were beatified on 15 January 1905 by

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

canonized them on 2 July 1995 in Košice, in the Diocese of Bielsko-Żywiecka. Their feast day is on 7 September, the liturgical calendar of the Jesuit order has an additional feast of the Martyrs of the Reformation in Europe on 19 January.Calendar
from JesuitInstitute.org, retrieved 8 September 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pongracz, Stephen Jesuit saints 17th-century Hungarian Jesuits Hungarian Roman Catholic saints Martyred Roman Catholic priests 1619 deaths 1584 births

Biography

Veneration and canonization

See also

References