Vitus of Hungary ( la, Vitus Pannonius or ''Vitus de Hungaria'', hu, Magyarországi Vid; died 1297) was a Hungarian
Augustinian Augustinian may refer to:
*Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine
*Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs
*Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo
* Canons Regular of Sain ...
friar in the 13th century, who was later
beatified
Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
.
Monastic life
Contemporary sources have preserved neither his name nor activities. 18th-century historiographical works – ''Ungaricae sanctitatis indicia'' and the
Bollandist
The Bollandist Society ( la, Societas Bollandistarum french: Société des Bollandistes) are an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century h ...
s' ''
Acta Sanctorum Ungariae I.'' – state that Vitus was a member of the Augustinian Hermits. It is possible he was born in
Várad
Várad is a village in Baranya county, Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania t ...
(present-day Oradea, Romania), as a 17th-century author Nicolaus Crusenius claimed. According to his legend, Vitus lived in the Augustinian St. Anne monastery of
Esztergom
Esztergom ( ; german: Gran; la, Solva or ; sk, Ostrihom, known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the river Danu ...
. He took an active part in the conversion of the pagan
Cumans
The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian language, Russian Exonym and endonym, exonym ), were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confede ...
, after
papal legate
300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate.
A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title ''legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...
Philip of Fermo persuaded the Hungarian elite to adopt the so-called Cuman laws in 1279.
A non-authentic royal charter from 1278 refers to a certain frater Vitus, along with Augustinian provincial prior Elijah and abbots Nicholas of Esztergom and James of Mezősomlyó. In the document,
Ladislaus IV of Hungary
Ladislaus IV ( hu, IV. (Kun) László, hr, Ladislav IV. Kumanac, sk, Ladislav IV. Kumánsky; 5 August 1262 – 10 July 1290), also known as Ladislaus the Cuman, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1272 to 1290. His mother, Elizabeth, was ...
donated a mill to the abbey of
Mezősomlyó (present-day Gătaia,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
). The document narrates that Vitus was present in the
Battle on the Marchfeld
The Battle on the Marchfeld (''i.e. Morava Field''; german: Schlacht auf dem Marchfeld; cs, Bitva na Moravském poli; hu, Morvamezei csata) at Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen took place on 26 August 1278 and was a decisive event for the history o ...
took place in that year. The fact that he precedes the two abbots in the order of the Augustinians (without any title) in the document indicates his honorable status.
Beatification
Ignatius Brentano Cimarolo's ''Epitome chronologica mundi christiany'' (1727) put his death year to 1297. 14th-century theologians
Jordan of Quedlinburg Jordan of Quedlinburg (Latin ''Jordanus de Saxonia''; c. 1300–1380) was an Augustinian hermit, influential writer and preacher. He is known for his advocacy of a moderate asceticism.
He was born around 1300 in Quedlinburg in the Duchy of Saxony ...
and
Henry of Friemar already listed Vitus among the most respected Augustinian friars, but without details of his activity. 16th-century historian Joseph Panfilo claimed that Vitus was a holy man whose cult was connected with the resurrection of the dead. 17th-century scholar Johannes Naevius claimed that Vitus protected ''Pannonia'' (i.e. Hungary) from the epidemics. According to the 17th-century
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
scholar
Márton Szentiványi, his
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
was held on 3 May.
An unidentified
Florentine chronicler, who compiled his work in 1336, lists his three miracles, which, however, contain valueless hagiographical topoi without any identifiable geographical or historical data. One of them says that 13 years after his death, his grave was excavated, after which the miracle was performed. Based on this, Slovak historian Miroslav Huťka considered his beatification took place around 1310, with the contribution of papal legate
Gentile Portino da Montefiore
Gentile Portino da Montefiore (also Gentile Partino di Montefiore, la, Gentilis de Monteflorum; ''c''. 1240 – 27 October 1312) was an Italian Franciscan friar and prelate, who was created Cardinal-Priest of Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti by ...
. Beside Hungary, Vitus' cult slightly spread into
Northern Italy
Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...
; still in 1466, one of the images of the St. Nicholas altar of the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Cella in
Sampierdarena
Sampierdarena (also San Pier d'Arena; Ligurian: San Pè d'ænn-a) is a major port and industrial area of Genoa, in northwest Italy. With San Teodoro it forms the West Central (Centro Ovest) ''municipio''.
Geography
Sampierdarena lies on t ...
(today an area of
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
) depicted Vitus along with several other Augustinian saints. After the end of the 15th century, however, the cult and knowledge of his person faded.
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vitus of Hungary
1297 deaths
Hungarian beatified people
Hungarian Christian monks
13th-century Hungarian people
Augustinian friars
People from Oradea