President opens St Martin memorial year

Budapest (MTI) – The message of the St Martin memorial year is that Hungary’s rich intellectual heritage has more than just cultural value and also serves as a moral guide, President Janos Ader said at the opening of the memorial year at the Archabbey of Pannonhalma in western Hungary on Wednesday.

Traditions offer more than just a connection to the past; they remain points of reference in the future as well, Ader said after a mass held by Cardinal Peter Erdo, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest.

Ader noted that Hungarian Grand Prince Geza founded the Archabbey of Pannonhalma and dedicated it to St Martin at the end of the tenth century because “he knew that our place in Europe was more than just a spot on the map”. Geza saw St Martin as the guardian of Christian virtues.

St Martin led a creative life as a bishop and fought for his beliefs, Cardinal Erdo said. Martin stood up against superstitions, poverty, misery and “all forms of evil”. He was tough, brave and lived a simple life, one quite different from his peers, Erdo said.