St. Stephen's Basilica

Altar inside the basilica

For the whole story about my Christmas break, check here.

St. Stephen's Basilica was started by the Hapsburgs during their occupation of Budapest and was originally meant for the patron of the Hapsburg empire (I believe it was St. Leopold). However, before the completion of the basilica, the Hungarians had convinced the Vatican and the Hapsburgs to have more autonomy in their governance and subsequently also convinced the Vatican to rename the church after the great Hungarian saint, St. Stephen.

St. Stephen was first King of Hungary. He ensured the conversion of the entire country to Catholicism. With no heirs to the throne and no relatives willing to rule as a Catholic king, St. Stephen offered his royal crown to the Blessed Mother on his death bed. St. Stephen died on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A beautiful painting of this scene is located in the church.

Right hand of St. Stephen

So while the church is now St. Stephen's Basilica, it was not originally intended as such. Since the switch happened after construction already began, the front of the church has a large image of the Hapsburg patron. There was no room or money to add in a statue of St. Stephen, so the Hungarians placed a large statue of him on the altar instead of the normal crucifix. It leads to an interesting altar design.

Interestingly enough, the basilica and the Hungarian Parliament buildings are the same height, and no building can be built taller than them. This represents the importance of both worldly and spiritual thinking. However, my tour guide said that Hungarians are not very religious anymore.

Concert inside the basilica

The decline of religion seems extremely common in post-communist countries because the faith was so suppressed for many years. It made me think of reasons why Poland might be different. The greatest difference I can see between Poland and other post-Soviet countries is the great power that the Polish pope wielded over the faith and hope of the entire country. For more on this, I recommend the video Nine Days that Changed the World.

Over the course of the five days in Budapest, I found myself in this church three times. On our first night, Anna and I attended a performance of Handel's Messiah. Then we attended the Hungarian Mass on Sunday and January 1st.