Stephen I of Hungary - His Legacy

His Legacy

Following Stephen's death, his nephew Peter Urseolo (his appointed heir) and his brother-in-law Samuel Aba contended for the crown. Nine years of instability followed until Stephen's cousin Andrew I was crowned King of Hungary in 1047 to re-establish the Árpád dynasty. Hungarian historiography saw Peter and Samuel as members of the Árpád dynasty, and both are counted among the Árpád kings.

Shortly after Stephen's death, healing miracles were said to have occurred at his tomb. Stephen was canonized by Pope Gregory VII as Saint Stephen of Hungary in 1083, along with his son, Saint Emeric and Bishop Gerhard (Hungarian: Szent Gellért). Thus Saint Stephen became the first canonized confessor king, a new category of saint. He is venerated as the patron saint of Hungary, kings, children who are dying, masons, stonecutters, and bricklayers.

St Stephen is not mentioned in the Tridentine Calendar. His feast day was added to the General Roman Calendar only in 1631, and only as a commemoration on 20 August, the feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. In 1687, it was moved to 2 September and remained there until the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints. Then the feast of Saint Joachim on 16 August was moved and the date became available for another celebration, so the feast of Saint Stephen of Hungary was moved to that date, the day immediately after his death. Some traditionalist Catholics continue to observe pre-1970 versions of the General Roman Calendar.

In the local calendar of the Church in Hungary, the feast is observed on 20 August, the day on which his sacred relics were translated to the city of Buda. It is a public holiday in Hungary. During the period of Communist rule in Hungary, St. Stephen's Day was referred to as the anniversary of the Stalinist constitution of 1949 and "The celebration of the new bread — the end of the harvest".

San Estevan del Rey Mission Church is a church that was founded in 1629 in Acoma, New Mexico and named for the king. The Pueblo of Acoma continues to celebrate on 2 September his feast day with traditional Native American dances.

The king's right hand, known as the Holy Right, is kept as a relic. Hungarians interpreted the incorruptibility of his right arm and hand - with which he had held the Holy Crown aloft from his deathbed when asking Virgin Mary to be the Queen of the Hungarians - as a sign that the Blessed Virgin Mary had accepted the king's offer to her of the Hungarian people, and she remains officially their queen. The incorrupt arm was divided among European royalty, but the Holy Right of King Saint Stephen was placed in a town built solely for the purpose of keeping it, the town in Transylvania called "Szent Jobb", or Holy Right. Later, the Holy Right was transferred to where it is today, the Basilica of King Saint Stephen in Budapest. Apart from the Holy Right, only some bone fragments remain, which are kept in churches throughout Hungary. Hungarian Catholics honor the first king of their country with annual processions, at which the Holy Right is exhibited.

The canonization of Saint Stephen was recognized by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople in the year 2000.

The Holy Crown, popularly attributed to St. Stephen, was removed from the country in 1945 for safekeeping, and entrusted to the United States government. It was kept in a vault at Fort Knox until 1978, when it was returned to the nation by order of President Jimmy Carter. It has been enshrined in the Hungarian parliament building in Budapest since 2000.