SERÉDI, GYÖRGY JUSTINIANUS. - Hungarian Benedictine cardinal and jurist, b. at Deáki on 23 Apr. 1884, d. at Strigonia (Esztergom) on 29 March 1945. Having completed his gymnasium studies in great poverty, he was admitted among the novices of the archabbey of Pannonhalma. Later a student of the College of St. Anselm in Rome, he was ordained a priest on 14 July 1908.
As soon as he had obtained his doctorate in theology he was appointed professor at the Pontifical International Institute of St. Anselm, then consultor of the Pontifical Commission for the Codification of Canon Law. After the war of 1914-18 he was appointed first ecclesiastical counselor of the Hungarian legation to the Holy See and professor at the Pontifical School of Archival Studies and Paleography. Cardinal Gasparri entrusted him with the task of editing the Fonti of the CIC, the last three volumes of which are entirely due to him and earned him worldwide fame as a scholar. Pope Pius XI appointed him Archbishop of Strigonia on 30 Nov. 1927 and on 19 Dec. of the same year created him cardinal of the title of Sts. Andrew and Gregory on the Caelian Hill, consecrating him personally on 8 Jan. 1928. He was doctor honoris causa in theology and in canon law of the Péter Pázmány University of Budapest and in civil law at the University of Oxford.
His manifestations as supreme pastor and highest dignitary of the country were always a testimony of the loftiest sentiment and a demonstration of an intrepid spirit in defense of the faith and of civilization. Most famous are his declarations condemning the racial laws. In the last months of his life, concerns for the fate of his homeland and of his beloved people, together with illness, hindered him in his activity. One of his last writings was the Pro memoria on the validity of the abdication of the Regent, a question of great importance in the evaluation of acts of State, presented to the Supreme Council of State, of which S. was a member. He died while Russian troops were occupying his see, and the Russians who appeared in the Primate's Palace to carry out a search there found nothing but his corpse.
Bibliography
Giulio Magyary