György Pray (also: ''George Pray'', 11 September 1723 - 23 September 1801) was a Hungarian
Jesuit Abbot, canon, librarian of the University library of
Buda
Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...
and important historian.
Biography
He was born at Érsekújvár (
Nové Zámky
Nové Zámky (; hu, Érsekújvár; german: Neuhäus ; la, Novum Castrum; tr, Uyvar) is a town in Nové Zámky District in the Nitra Region of southwestern Slovakia.
Geography
The town is located on the Danubian Lowland, on the Nitra River, ...
) on 11 September 1723 in a family which came from the
Puster Valley
The Puster Valley ( it, Val Pusteria ; german: Pustertal, ) is one of the largest longitudinal valleys in the Alps that runs in an east-west direction between Lienz in East Tyrol, Austria, and Mühlbach near Brixen in South Tyrol, Italy. The Sou ...
in the
County of Tyrol
The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. After 1253, it was ruled by the House of Gorizia and from 1363 by the House of Habsburg. In 1804, the County of Tyrol, unified with the secularised pr ...
.
He studied in Pressburg (present day
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% o ...
), 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 1745, spent two years in the Jesuit college (St. Ann's) in the Austrian imperial capital
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and completed his higher studies at Nagyszombat (
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'' (Trnava ...
).
He taught at Nagyvárad (
Oradea
Oradea (, , ; german: Großwardein ; hu, Nagyvárad ) is a city in Romania, located in Crișana, a sub-region of Transylvania. The seat of Bihor County, Oradea is one of the most important economic, social and cultural centers in the western par ...
), Trencsén (
Trenčín
Trenčín (, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a population of more than 55,000, which makes it the eighth largest munic ...
), Nagyszombat and Pressburg. In 1754 he was ordained priest and continued teaching, now in Rozsnyó (
Rožňava
Rožňava ( hu, Rozsnyó, german: Rosenau, Latin: ''Rosnavia'') is a town in Slovakia, approximately by road from Košice in the Košice Region, and has a population of 19,182.
The town is an economic and tourist centre of the Gemer. Rožňa ...
) and in the Theresianum at Vienna, where he was professor of political science, and at the same time
tutor
TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in c ...
to the princesses of
Salm. He was professor in
Győr
Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia region, and – halfway between Budapest and Vienna – situated on one of t ...
(1758), Nagyszombat (1759) and Buda (1760), where he lectured, among other subjects, on
moral theology
Ethics involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''"Ethics"/ref> A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is simply sati ...
.
At the
suppression of the Jesuits
The suppression of the Jesuits was the removal of all members of the Society of Jesus from most of the countries of Western Europe and their colonies beginning in 1759, and the abolishment of the order by the Holy See in 1773. The Jesuits we ...
in 1773, he went to the
Archdiocese of Gran and
Empress Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...
appointed him
imperial historiographer, with a yearly income of 400 florins. When the
University of Nagyszombat
The University of Trnava (in Trnava) ( sk, Trnavská univerzita v Trnave) is one of the oldest universities in Slovakia. It is based in Trnava, in the west of Slovakia.
Historical university
The original Jesuit university was founded in 1635 by ...
was transferred to Buda in 1777, Pray was given charge of the library; he resigned this position in 1780, but resumed it in 1784. During this year he surrendered his manuscripts and collection of documents to the university library for a life annuity of 400 florins. He became
canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western can ...
in Nagyvárad (Oradea) in 1790, and was sent by the
chapter
Chapter or Chapters may refer to:
Books
* Chapter (books), a main division of a piece of writing or document
* Chapter book, a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10
* Chapters (bookstore), Canadian big box bookstore ...
as its representative to the
Hungarian Diet
The Diet of Hungary or originally: Parlamentum Publicum / Parlamentum Generale ( hu, Országgyűlés) became the supreme legislative institution in the medieval kingdom of Hungary from the 1290s, and in its successor states, Royal Hungary and ...
. Later he became Abbot of
Tormowa. He died in
Pest
Pest or The Pest may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns
** Weed, a plant considered undesirable
* Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection
** ...
on 23 September 1801.
Works
His literary activity embraced the history of Hungary, especially the early centuries, the history of the Catholic Church in Hungary, and editing the sources of Hungarian history.
He was the first to draw attention to the oldest coherent text in the Hungarian language,
Funeral Sermon and Prayer
The Funeral Sermon and Prayer ( hu, Halotti beszéd és könyörgés) is the oldest known and surviving contiguous Hungarian text, written by one scribal hand in the Latin script and dating to 1192–1195. It is found on f.154a of the Codex Pr ...
(Latin title "Oratio funebris", meaning 'funeral oration'), dating probably from 1199, in a manuscript which was called after him the
Pray Codex
The Pray Codex, also called Codex Pray or The Hungarian Pray Manuscript, is a collection of medieval manuscripts, dated to the late 12th to early 13th centuries. In 1813 it was named after György Pray, who discovered it in 1770. It is the first kn ...
.
Among his works may be mentioned
* "Annales veteres Hunnorum Avarorum et Hungarorum, 210 ad 997" (Vienna, 1761)
* "Annales regum Hungariæ, 997-1564" (5 volumes, Vienna, 1763–70)
* "Vita S. Elizabethæ" (Vienna, 1770)
* "Specimen Hierarchiæ Hungariæ" (2 volumes, Presburg, 1776-9).
Sources
*
External links
Juraj Pray
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pray, Gyorgy
Hungarian abbots
18th-century Hungarian historians
Hungarian librarians
18th-century Hungarian Jesuits
1723 births
1801 deaths
People from Nové Zámky