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 The Church
is universal, but its expression is always affected—for good or ill—by local
culture. There are no "generic" Christians; there are Mexican Christians,
Polish Christians, Filipino Christians. This fact is evident in the life of
Stephen, national hero and spiritual patron of Hungary.
Born a pagan, he was baptized at about the age of ten, together with his
father, chief of the Magyars, a group who migrated to the Danube area in the
ninth century. At 20 he married Gisela, sister to the future emperor, St.
Henry. When he succeeded his father, Stephen adopted a policy of
Christianization of the country for both political and religious reasons. He
suppressed a series of revolts by pagan nobles and welded the Magyars into a
strong national group. He sent to Rome to get ecclesiastical
organization—and also to ask the pope to confer the title of king upon him.
He was crowned on Christmas day in 1001.
Stephen established a system of tithes to support churches and pastors and
to relieve the poor. Out of every 10 towns one had to build a church and
support a priest. He abolished pagan customs with a certain amount of
violence, and commanded all to marry, except clergy and religious. He was
easily accessible to all, especially the poor.
In 1031 his son Emeric died, and the rest of his days were embittered by
controversy over his successor. His nephews attempted to kill him. He died
in 1038 and was canonized, along with his son, in 1083.
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