This young saint is known as the "Lily of Hungary." Prince Emeric was the son of St. Stephen, the first King of Hungary. The first among all the crown princes, he died at the age of twenty-two in a hunting accident in May 1030 and therefore never succeeded to the throne. The wife of King Stephen, Gizella, was beatified in 1082 and their son Emeric was canonized together with his royal father just fifty-two years after his death.
Sermon by Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty
on the Feast of St. Emeric
Vienna, 5th November 1972
My dear, faithful people!
In today's Gospel segment, Our Savior charges us with a very important truth. He says that hypocrisy is the greatest canker of religion. We cannot be truly religious if we have a shred of hypocrisy in us. True religion is truth before God and men, and no shamming can be connected with it.
The Lord Jesus used as his example the Pharisees and notes that the deepest characteristic of piety is meekness. The person who humbles himself and unconditionally obeys God's commandments will be exalted, sometimes here in this life as well, but certainly in eternity. Whoever behaves arrogantly, that person will be humiliated.
The piety of St. Emeric is tied to this Gospel passage. St. Emeric is the grandson of Prince Gesa, and the son of King St. Stephen and Blessed Queen Gizella. He is the most beautiful model of Hungarian youth. He was born at Szekesfehervar in 1007, and was educated partly in Veszprem, the Queen's city, and partly in Eszterom, at that time, the capital of the country and seat of the Church in Hungary. His first tutor was his father, King St. Stephen. Then from Venice came St. Gilbert--the Benedictine monk who wanted to go to the Holy Land but whose ship was strangely cast ashore in the Balkans. Thereupon St. Gilbert started out, much against his will, towards the newly Christianized land, Hungary. Many of the country's ten bishops were Benedictines, members of his own order, whom he trusted and whom he visited at Pecs and Szentmarton (known since the 19th century as Pannonhalma). These Benedictines encouraged him, took him to Szekesfehervar and introduced him to St. Stephen, who took and extraordinary liking to him and entrusted him with the education of his son.
Prince St. Emeric represents a great advance in Hungarian Christian development. His grandmother and grandfather were still half pagan. Sarolta preferred horseback riding, and prince Geza, when admonished by the priests to be honest in his religious practice, replied, "I am rich enough to offer sacrifice to the right and to the left."
St. Stephen, on the other hand, already lived within the context of the religious life of his time. We can see from his chronicles and teaching addressed to his son that St. Stephen considered the Christian faith not as a political necessity, but seriously desired it for its own sake. This is how he educated St. Emeric and this is how St. Gilbert continued that education.
St. Emeric expanded and perfected veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He learned this from St. Gilbert, for we know that St. Gilbert lived as a hermit at Bakonybel after St. Emeric's death. It was from there that St. Stephen had sent him to Caanad, a distant and difficult diocese, where he made the veneration of Mary flourish.
St. Emeric learned Latin with amazing speed, mastering this international diplomatic language so necessary for the ruler-to-be at that time. In addition, he learned rhetoric from St. Gilbert, so that he could speak to his people. he learned philosophy as well, and all with amazing mental agility.
Just as on the altar, there were two burning candles in his room at night. When he woke up, he took the psalter and prayed by the light of those two candles. In Veszprem, he sometimes went over to the chapel of St. George. That is where he had a vision. he asked God what He wanted of him. Then he saw in a vision that virginity in soul and body is pleasing to God. It is not opposed to married life, to the sacramental state of marriage. Virginity alone can adequately prepare young people for the virtuous married life of a respectable, believing Christian. Even the classical pagans had already recognized that "inexhausta pubertas" wholeness of youth's soul and body, was essential to the life of the nation. Only thus can one enter into married life. Those who are lustful before marriage are not worthy to be married.
While his brother Oto was still alive, St. Emeric strongly aspired to the priesthood. When Otto died, however, Emeric had to become the heir, the nation's future king. he understood this obligation and prepared himself to rule. With prayer and veneration of Mary, he became the model for the youth of every Hungarian generation that followed.
His father urged him to marry, because more powerful peoples came from the West to attack the country, and they had to ask the help of others. He married the daughter of the Polish King, Miesko II. Their souls were entirely united on their wedding day, but they agreed to live as brother and sister.
St. Stephen hoped to hand over his reign to St. Emeric during his lifetime, because he admired his son's wisdom and seriousness, and because he felt his own bodily and spiritual powers weaken. Unfortunately, St. Emeric became the victim of a hunting accident and the first Hungarian holy family was overtaken by sorrow.
For almost a thousand years, Hungarian youth have an ideal, a most beautiful model to follow, from whom married people as well as young people can learn, for he humbled himself and lived his religious life with total dedication.
Let us ask ourselves now, who follow in the footsteps of St. Emeric, what was our youth like? Was it like St. Emeric's? Was it such that we could build a serious religious or married life upon it?
Prince St. Emeric was like his uncle, St. Henry II, his mother's brother, the German King and Holy Roman Emperor, who was St. Emeric's godfather. The effervescence of Western religious life spilled over into Hungary and from then on there was no longer any difference between Western and Hungarian religious expression. This nation preserved its national independence, but it took its place squarely within the context of western spirituality. This is the realization of today's Gospel: The kingdom of heaven belongs to the meek." Our obedience should flow from meekness in body and spirit every day of our lives. Amen.
(Translated from Szentbeszedek, Vasasnapi Level, Wien,
By Erika Papp Faber)