STEPHEN I, King of Hungary. - Son of Prince Géza, born around 969; baptized together with his father in 973 or 974, he succeeded him in 997. He was crowned with the crown received from Pope Sylvester II, at Christmas of the year 1000, after having defeated in a hard battle Koppány, of the Árpád dynasty, who contested the succession with him.
He continued his father's policy by maintaining peaceful relations with the West and working for the conversion of the Hungarian people to Christianity. Between St. Stephen and his father there is, however, a fundamental difference. Géza acted for political reasons, whereas St. Stephen acted out of deep religiosity. His ideal was the one traced by St. Augustine: to be a just, pious and peaceful king. His power was unlimited, but he never became a tyrant because he voluntarily subjected himself to the commandments of religion, to the laws and to the teachings of the Church. In the organization of the Kingdom he took his bearings from Western examples, especially that of the Carolingian Kingdom, but he did not imitate it servilely: the institutions transplanted from the West into Hungary had a character of their own. The two fundamental aspects of St. Stephen's State: the system of government centralized in the hands of the king and the patrimonial foundation of the State, correspond to Hungarian tradition. St. Stephen was also one of the greatest and strongest renewers in Hungarian history. He transformed his people from the political as well as the social and religious point of view. He nevertheless knew how to preserve all that was precious and reconcilable with the Christian religion. «Each people lives according to its own laws», says St. Stephen in the introduction to the collection of his laws, and he also admonished his son in the Admonitiones that every people must have the freedom to be able to live according to its own laws.
St. Stephen organized not only the State but also the Church in Hungary, for whose supreme direction he founded two archbishoprics (Esztergom and Kalocsa) and 8 bishoprics (Veszprém, Pécs, Csanád, Vác, Győr, Eger, Nagyvárad, Gyulafehérvár). His appointment as pontifical legate, however, is a legend, created in the 12th century, when, after the Gregorian reforms, the powers exercised by St. Stephen in organizing the Church and appointing bishops could no longer be conceived except on the basis of a special authorization from the Pope. In St. Stephen's time the State and the Church were not yet separated and both depended solely on the king. From this, however, there did not follow the subjection of the Church's interests to political ones. St. Stephen's earthly State did not suppress, but helped and defended the Church and had the high mission of educating and preparing its subjects to obtain eternal happiness.
No one else influenced the history of Hungary as much as he did and so favorably. Over the centuries the Hungarian people regarded him not only as the founder of the State, but also as a guide from whom to draw always teachings and examples, strength and help to resist in sad times. The importance of St. Stephen's Kingdom, however, went beyond the Hungarian frontier. The Danubian basin, which previously was the last stage of the nomadic peoples, from which the West could best be attacked, thanks to his work became a barrier for the defense of the West. St. Stephen, so conscious of the individuality of each people, was also aware of the unity of Europe and of the Christian world. He built churches not only in Hungary, but also in Rome and in Byzantium. He wanted Hungary to be an intermediary between the West and the East. He greatly favored Western pilgrims on their journey to the Holy Land, whereby he earned not only the recognition of the pilgrims themselves, but also that of the great abbot of Cluny, Odilo. In 1030 he defeated the expedition of Emperor Conrad II who was invading Hungary. St. Stephen died in 1038 and was canonized in 1083 together with his son Emeric and his chief collaborator Gerard. In the Roman Martyrology he is commemorated on August 15, but his feast falls on September 2.
Bibliography11 works
Lajos Pásztor