By DEB PIROCH
Born Jozsef Pehm in Mindszent, Hungary, in 1892, he would one day be known as Venerable Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty, thanks to Pope Francis.
Ordained in 1915 on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, Jozsef was arrested the first time four years later, in 1919, for opposing attempts by the Communist government to secularize all the nation’s Catholic schools. He would later be at odds with the Nazis, determining in 1941 to change his name from Pehm because of his opposition to the Nazi occupation. Recall, he came from the vestiges of the Hapsburg Empire and spoke fluent German, so this was a reaction not to German culture but to the political situation. He took instead the name of his village. He is a reminder today of a life heroically spent opposing socialism and Communism so at odds with the Church.
Mindszenty experienced what is known as “dry martyrdom,” living in prison or forced exile much of his life. In 1944 he was made bishop of Veszprem and arrested the same year by the Nazis. His promotion to the level of archbishop of Esztergom and primate of Hungary followed fast in 1945. He was freed, but the freedom was dubious in its quality, because it came at the price of the Communists taking over postwar Hungary from the Nazis.
These were the times to act, and the Holy Father raised him swiftly to cardinal in 1946. In doing so, Pope Pius XII stated:
“Among the thirty-two, you will be the first to suffer the martyrdom whose symbol this red color is.”
Born the son of a farmer, even as a cardinal he lived a life of simplicity. He rose early to say daily Mass, fasted on bread and water Wednesdays of each week, and said three rosaries a day. He also spent an hour daily before the Blessed Sacrament. He was also especially devoted to proclaiming the role of motherhood and wrote two books on the topic. His own mother came to see him, even in Communist prisons and later when he was living in sanctuary in the American Embassy, guarded from the Communists.
Hungary was 70 percent Catholic at this time, and the year 1947 was a special one, dedicated to the Mother of God. Millions attended the devotions, and the people were more interested in their cardinal’s words than that of the vicious dictator, Matyas Rakosi. The Communists felt that an example had to be made of Mindszenty.
He was arrested in 1948, the day after Christmas. The significance was not lost on anyone: This was the feast of St. Stephen, and Esztergom, the saint’s birthplace. The trumped-up charges numbered something like forty and included stealing the Hungarian crown jewels and crowning himself the head of the nation. Utterly ridiculous. Foreseeing that he would be arrested, he had the foresight to write and sign a declaration before it happened that if arrested, any confession that would be forthcoming would be a lie, only the result of Communist brutality on human frailty and null and void. He foresaw correctly; torture followed.
Three who were subjected to torture with him related, as reported in The Catholic Standard and Times, that they were put into a cell together and the air was pumped out. The men would lose consciousness, unable to breathe, and then this would be repeated again and again. Mindszenty was asked to sign a confession but still refused.
Another account relates that he was beaten 29 nights in succession twice a night, with truncheons on his naked body, often also until he passed out. What a scourging to offer up to our Lord! The men were told that as they would not cooperate, their food rations would be reduced to something like 150 calories a day and water. After eating herring, and asking for water, the men with the cardinal said they were given three pills each which altered their minds and made them peaceful and happy and willing to do anything asked. But they said Mindszenty was given triple the amount of mind-altering drugs that they received. He signed a confession, but a later newspaper report stated that he had no recollection of the trial, nor of the period afterward. The drugs had taken away any memory or will.
There was worldwide anger and uproar at the mock trial and imprisonment of the cardinal, more than expected. Perhaps that changed his sentence from death to a life sentence. Pope Pius XII issued an apostolic letter, Acerrimo Moerore, in protest, and excommunicated all those at all involved in the trial. He wrote the letter also to encourage the suffering Hungarian Church, starting with the cardinal.
Fr. John Szabo, who wrote about being imprisoned at the same time as the cardinal, recorded the fate of the excommunicated Communists who meted out evil to the cardinal and countless other innocent Catholics they presumed to put on trial:
“It is of great interest to know what happened to those who jailed Mindszenty. Gyulia [Julia] Alapi, the notorious state prosecutor of the trial, committed suicide. Gabor Peter, the former head of the AVO (secret police) and the principal prosecutor of the cardinal, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Laszlo Rajk, who was minister of the interior and as such directed police action against the cardinal, was arrested within two years as a conspirator with Tito and was hanged. Sandor Zoldi, who directed the “hate” campaign against the cardinal, murdered his entire family and committed suicide. Andras Villany, who accused the Primate of dealings on the black market, was arrested and later hanged. Gyula Oszko, an AVO colonel who arrested the cardinal, tried to escape from Hungary and was shot dead as he attempted to cross the border. They all met the fate that they had dealt to others” — from I Was in Prison With Cardinal Mindszenty.
And these men had all been excommunicated. How horrible for them! The cardinal was imprisoned for the next eight years, until the uprising in 1956, when he was briefly freed, only for a few days. But when the Soviets sent in forces to clamp down on democracy, he sought refuge in the U.S. embassy in Budapest. There he remained for the next 15 years. He only left when the next Pope, Paul VI, asked him to do so. Mindszenty had hoped to remain in Hungary. But unfortunately, the U.S. and the Vatican were leaning toward a new Ostpolitik. Mindszenty was an unwelcome reminder of what the Communists truly meant to the Church. By asking him to leave the American Embassy, the Pope was asking the cardinal to make a large sacrifice.
There is some debate over the role that Pope Paul VI played in the events of the life of the cardinal, for he asked him to resign his position in 1973. The cardinal refused to do this, and at 81 the Pope stripped his titles. (At this time, he was not required to retire by age 75.) Then the Pope declared his see vacant. Additionally, Paul VI tragically lifted the excommunication that had been imposed on those involved in his trial by Pope Pius XII. The venerable cardinal would later tell people he had been deposed but never ceased to declare the evils of Communism.
In 1949 the face of Cardinal Mindszenty graced the cover of Time Magazine. Yes, the magazine then was a far cry from what it is today. (Some may recall the famous conversion of Clare Boothe Luce, the wife of Time Magazine’s founder.) The caption read: “To die is to live.” To die to self? I think that is the message, even more than willing to give one’s life for a cause. Because here God is the cause, the only cause.
The cardinal passed away in 1975, a few hours after surgery. He was buried in Austria at Mariazell, a Marian pilgrimage location for over 800 years. His body was returned to Hungary only in 1991 after the Communist government was gone, and he was buried at Esztergom Basilica.
As always, the Church with her communion of saints has long outlived those who have attempted to destroy her.
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