Faculty of Theology

Dr. Zoltán Ottó Fülöp, PhD
Research Fellow
Faculty of Theology, Gál Ferenc University
Study Visit in Dunajská Streda

The town, whose name derives from its weekly fairs held on Wednesdays, is located in the Csallóköz region. The largest island of the Danube is bordered by the Little Danube to the north and the Váh River to the east. In old Hungarian, this fertile plain was also known as the “Golden Garden.” According to a charter issued in 1255 by the Chapter of Pressburg, the town is celebrating the 770th anniversary of its first written mention this year (as Syridahel). Dunajská Streda was established in 1854 through the unification of the settlements of Szerdahely, Újfalu, Nemesszeg, and Előtejed, and later, in 1960, the villages of Sikabony and Ollétejed were annexed.

As the cultural, economic, political, and tourist center of Csallóköz, the Slovak Hungarian Cultural Institute (legal successor of the CSEMADOK Cultural Institute) operates with a wide range of activities. Its main mission is to cultivate the culture of Hungarians in Slovakia, maintain connections with cultural institutions in the Carpathian Basin, and systematize the continuously expanding Database of Hungarian Values in Slovakia. A plaque on the outer wall of the building commemorates the birth of Miklós Kondé of Pókatelk (1732–1802), Bishop of Oradea and chief judge of the royal court. The Institute holds a valuable library, which now also includes the monograph From Mineral Water to Hungarikum by the research fellow of Gál Ferenc University. The institution also houses a folklore and public culture database, an archive, and image, sound, and video collections.

During his research on the intellectual heritage of Ferenc Gál, Dr. Zoltán Ottó Fülöp connected with the Institute’s director, Mr. Ottó Takács, with whom he discussed the republication of Gál Ferenc’s doctoral dissertation The Theology of Pope Pius XI (Kassa, Szent Erzsébet Printing Co., 1941). Written while Gál served as chaplain in Szerencs, the work portrays the Pope’s character through his papacy, providing an accurate depiction of the historical context, intellectual trends, and cultural influences of the time. Gál notes that Achille Ratti, Archbishop of Milan, ascended the papal throne in 1922, during a period of philosophical and theological challenges for the Church. Pius XI continued the canon law reforms begun by Pius X (1903–1914) and developed the Eucharistic movement. In his inaugural encyclical Ubi arcano Dei consilio (27 December 1922), he defined Christianity’s core tasks in an increasingly secular world and voiced strong opposition to modernism, naturalism, laicism, and secularization. Gál presents the Holy Father as an outstanding scholar under whose pontificate theology was revitalized—exemplified by the reform of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Research confirms that the Szent Erzsébet Press was founded in 1907 in Košice by Bishop Ágoston Fischer-Colbrie of the Diocese of Košice (now Archdiocese of Košice), a doctor of theology, papal chamberlain, papal protonotary, and religious educator to Archduchess Elisabeth Marie of Austria. He participated in the beatification of the Martyrs of Košice in 1905 in Rome, and was appointed titular Bishop of Dometiopolis (Anatolia, Isauria province) the same year, then Apostolic Administrator in 1906. Former rector of the Pázmáneum in Vienna, he was a multilingual translator who rendered Pope Leo XIII’s Sapientiae Christianae (10 January 1890) into Hungarian. This apostolic letter, published in Acta Sanctae Sedis (the official journal of the Holy See between 1865 and 1908), was among the longest-serving encyclicals in papal history. Fischer-Colbrie also translated Rerum novarum (15 May 1891), which gained prominence in Hungary through the interpretation of Ottokár Prohászka. The bishop was also portrayed by Sándor Márai in his novel Confessions of a Bourgeois (1934). Numerous institutions in Košice bear his legacy, such as the St. Joseph Home for Poor Children, the Patronage Association, a girls’ shelter, a boys’ halfway home, and a Catholic apprenticeship dormitory. He also participated in the 1913 episcopal consecration of István Miklósy, the first bishop of the Greek Catholic Diocese of Hajdúdorog.

Sources confirm that the press operated at 34 Fő Street—later 4 István Kassai Street—in rooms of the bishop’s palace and those facing Szegfű Street. It printed the Felvidéki Ujság (Upper Hungary Gazette) from 1907 to 1918, which later became the Esti Ujság (Evening Gazette) between 1919 and 1921. In the 1940s, the press printed various periodicals, including Abaúj-Tornavármegye Official Bulletin, Abaúji Farmer, Košice Catholic Reporter, People and Family Protection, and New Life, as well as theological, moral, literary, and local history publications, and homilies.

Dunajská Streda, a town with nearly 23,000 inhabitants, hosts numerous cultural memory institutions: the Contemporary Hungarian Gallery in the Vermes Villa, the Roma Ethnographic Museum (opened in 2023), and the Csallóköz Museum in the Pókatelk Dűlő. The latter, which has ethnographic, archaeological, prehistoric, and natural science collections, was founded in 1964 and moved to its current site, the Yellow Castle, six years later. The area once belonged to the Póka family and was acquired during the reign of the Angevin kings by Mihály Szomor, deputy lord lieutenant of Pozsony County and prefect of the Csallóköz district. The castle’s construction began when the Kondé family pledged Pókatelk to Bishop Márton Padányi Bíró of Veszprém (1693–1762).

Easily accessible from the Yellow Castle is the Municipal Cultural Center, inaugurated in 1977 and named after Piarist monk, literary historian, and ethnographer Benedek Csaplár (1821–1906). In 1851, Csaplár met Arnold Ipolyi, later Bishop of Banská Bystrica and Oradea, whom he supported in his mythological research. Csaplár became a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1886 and a member of the St. Stephen Society’s Scientific and Literary Section and the Vatican–Hungarian Diplomatic Document Committee in 1887. The latter was responsible for publishing historical Hungarian-related documents from papal archives.

At the town center stands the Roman Catholic Church of Saint George, the patron saint of Dunajská Streda, reflected in the name Civitas Sancti Georgii. Originally a wooden church from the early Árpádian period, the current structure’s foundation was laid in 1329 and renovated in late Gothic style in 1518. A major Baroque renovation followed in 1742–1743. The main altar features a painting of the Transitus (Assumption of the Virgin Mary) with a statue of St. George above it. Side altars depict King Saint Stephen and a Pietà. The crypt holds the remains of the Kondé family of Pókatelk. A document found during the church’s 21st-century restoration reads:
“The new church rises from the depths of earth and water, with crested waves solidified in the air, befitting the water palaces of the former Golden Garden. After millennia of slumber, it reveals itself to mankind so that ancient light may shine anew, and that faithful devotees of the Blessed Virgin may raise their song: ‘Our Lady, Blessed Virgin, our heavenly great patron…'”

A plaque also honors Mihály Marczell (1883–1962), former rector of the Central Seminary in Budapest, papal chamberlain, honorary canon, prelate, apostolic protonotary, and ecclesiastical writer.

Numerous public artworks by György Lipcsey (b. 1955), Munkácsy and St. George Prize-winning sculptor, adorn Dunajská Streda: the 1848–49 Revolution and War of Independence memorial (1995), the Ármin Vámbéry Memorial Wall (2001), the bust of Zoltán Kodály (2002), and the Esterházy János plaque (2011). Lipcsey also created the bust of Ányos Jedlik in Szímő (1993).

The city holds deep respect for Ármin Vámbéry, a renowned orientalist, linguist, and explorer who spent his childhood there. His seated full-figure statue (2018), by Alla Punta Prize-winning sculptor Gyula Mag (b. 1956), stands on Bartók Béla Promenade. It was erected through the support of private individuals and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta of Jerusalem.

The success of the research is underpinned by the openness of cultural institutions in Slovakia to professional cooperation, significantly advancing the forthcoming republication of Gál Ferenc’s doctoral dissertation in Szeged.

Szeged, on the Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, 2025.