TIHAMER, TÓTH. - Bishop, orator, and educator, b. at Szolnok (Hungary) in 1889, d. at Vezprem on 5 May 1939.
After literary studies at Szolnok and theological studies at the Central Seminary of Budapest, he served as a military chaplain during the First World War; subsequently, when recalled, he became professor of theology at the Seminary of Eger. Having soon decided to devote himself particularly to men and young people, he began a series of lectures for them in the University church, organized student circles and scout groups, and also published newspapers and periodicals suited to them. The restlessness of the postwar period provided abundant material for his zeal and for his clear, lively, contemporary preaching, rich in practical applications, which made him famous through the radio and sought after from all parts of the world. In 1924 he obtained a chair at the University of Budapest, and in 1938 he was consecrated bishop of Vezprem.
Among his works, translated into many languages and published in numerous editions, the series (the Italian edition is cited) still prove useful: Consigli ai miei giovani: I. Giovinezza pura (vers. it., Venezia 1928); II. Formazione del giovane (ivi 1930); III. Il carattere del giovane (ivi 1931); IV. La religiosità del giovane (ivi 1934); V. Cristo e il giovane (ivi 1935), completing the series with a volume for educators: L'educatore spirituale dei giovani (ivi 1936); I dieci comandamenti (2 vols., ivi 1938); Il simbolo degli Apostoli (7 vols., ivi 1940-48). He also dealt separately with various questions: Matrimonio e famiglia (Roma 1944); Gesù Cristo e i problemi del nostro tempo (ivi 1946).