On the feast day of the country’s founder, King Saint Stephen, Cardinal Péter Erdő, primate of Hungary officiated the Holy Mass in front of the Saint Stephen Basilica, Budapest on 20 August and then led the procession of the Holy Right Hand. The sermon was delivered by László Felföldi, bishop of Pécs. The Holy Mass was preceded by a musical program and prayer.
Michael August Blume, apostolic nuncio to Hungary, members of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and Jozef Haľko, auxiliary bishop of Bratislava were concelebrating the Holy Mass.
Among others, János Áder, president of Hungary and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán attended the liturgy.
From 3 pm, a varied cultural program was organised in the square as preparation for the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in Budapest. Gábor Mohos, head of the IEC Secretariat, auxiliary bishop of Esztergom-Budapest and Kornél Fábry, secretary-general of IEC provided information about the upcoming world event. Bishop Gábor Mohos highlighted that nowadays many things may break our spirits, but Jesus present in the Eucharist raises us up.
Participants of the celebratory Mass were greeted by Cardinal Péter Erdő, primate of Hungary and archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest:
“We celebrate King Saint Stephen today. Today we are grateful for our past, the life of our nation and pray for our future, our destiny in the making. This year in particular, we have much to say before God...
On this Mass, we pray for people deceased in the pandemic and for those who still suffer from severe symptoms of the disease. We pray for those who are mourning, for whom this period is extremely hard and burdensome. But we also pray for those, who worked tirelessly and helped us survive.
This year, we ask for his grace of renewal with a special hope. We hope to meet with joy and strength here in Budapest at the International Eucharistic Congress at the beginning of September. We can experience that the Hungarian nation and Christianity have been on a shared journey for a thousand years and we were given the mission to pass on the love of Christ to the whole world.”
The sermon delivered by László Felföldi, bishop of Pécs focused on the following message: “We are the ones who must continue to build this nation now!” “On this holy day, I would like to highlight one brilliant law from the immensely rich knowledge of Saint Stephen. The law that is relevant again today and may heal and save our lives, families and nation. This is the following law: Ten village shall build one church!
Today we do not have to build churches this way, but families and friends must find the place and space in our increasingly estranged world, where their relationship with God and each other may strengthen” – said the bishop.
After the universal prayer, Cardinal Péter Erdő offered our nation to Our Lady of Hungary with the prayer of Palatine Pál Esterházy.
The procession of the Holy Right Hand – the relic of Saint Stephen – was held after the celebratory Mass.