Katolikus Szemle 8. (1956, Róma)
1. szám
SUMMARY This year is the V centenary of the famous victory of Belgrad (July 22, 1456), which.— as a result of the collaboration of a hero, John Hunyadi, and a saint, John Capistrano, — stopped the invasion of Europe by the Ozman Turkish Empire. Pope Callixtus IV in his Bulla Orationum promulgated on June 29 of the same year, »called on Chistians of the whole of Europe to pray God, through the intercession of Our Lady, to save Western Christianity and civilisation. The peal «inter Nonam et Vesperas », ordered by the Pope to collect people for prayer, was the origin of the midday Angelus. Thus this Easter issue of the KATOLIKUS SZEMLE publishes the call of the ACTIO CATHOLICA HUNGARORUM IN EXTERIS to Hungarian Catholics all around the world to say the midday Angelus for the liberation of Hungary and other Christian countries under Communist rule, and make a propaganda for this prayer among the Catholics living in different countries of the Western world. Lajos Vecsey, in a well informed historical study, shows the unpreparedness of Europe in face of the enormous forces of the Ozman invasion in the middle of the XV century, and the general relief and satisfaction provoked by the victory of the small Hungarian crusader army of Hunyadi and Capistrano in raising the siege of Belgrad. In view of the recent solicitation of Hungarian emigrées by the Communist regime to return to their own country, Msgr. J. Közi Horváth leader of the exiled Christian Democrats of Hungary, explains the reasons, why the deceiving invitation should not be followed and proposes three conditions of return: 1) the complete withdrawal of the Soviet army from Hungary; 2) the ending of Communist dictatorship; 3) free elections with international control. The tenth anniversary of the death of Béla Bartók in New York, gives Mihály Medvigy an occasion to analyse the spiritual development of the world-famous modern Hungarian composer, who, as a young man, became an atheist under the influence of Nietsche's Zarathrustra, but in the later period of his life seems to have been occupied with the idea of God, so that a part of his last work, the Piano Concerto No. Ill, bears the title: Adagio religioso. Zoltán Kodály, his friend and a believer, who is the greatest representative of modern Church music in Hungary, said: « Bartók did not tell his last word, and nobody can tell it for him ». We give also a selection of a recent collection of verses edited by Béla Horváth, who is a well known Hungarian poet, inspired by Christian faith and Humanistic ideas. In the rest of this issue, L. Cs. Szabó, in a splendid essay, tells us of his visit to the cathedral of Durham, recalling how the humanistic light of Christianism was radiated by the Venerable Bede and other Anglo-Saxon Benedictine monks in the dark ages of barbaric invasion of the British Isles. Gerard Békés gives a detailed account of Diego Fabbri's Processo a Gesü, an excellent theatrical piece with profound religious ideas, recently performed in Rome. Árpád Kertész faces the problem of how to preach in our time remaining faithful to the Revelation of God and at the same time satisfying the actual need of the people. We bring also a short story of L. Kutasi Kovács and a Hungarian translation of a poem by an English Catholic, Denys Blakelock, adressed to the persecuted Cardinal Mindszenty. In our reviews we print an account of the Pope's Christmas allocution and an acute analysis by Dénes Nemestóthy of the Janus-faced recent Soviet policy. Imre Várady reviews the recent works of Gyula Farkas, especially the one which deals with the relations of Hungary and the East European nations. Other Church news and book reviews round off this issue. ACTIO CATHOLICA HUNGARORUM in EXTERIS ROMA KATOLIKUS SZEMLE Redattore ed Editore Responsable: ALBERTO AMBRO Tipograßa « La Sfera » - Viale di Trastevere, 141 - Tel. 588-897 - ROMA