Today the Church celebrates Saint Stephen of Hungary, the first King of Hungary and a man whose leadership was rooted deeply in faith. Born around the year 975, Stephen was baptized as a child when his father, a Hungarian chieftain, embraced Christianity. He married Gisela, the sister of the Holy Roman Emperor, and in the year 1000 was crowned king—receiving his crown from Pope Sylvester II as a sign of both political and spiritual authority.
What makes Stephen remarkable is not only that he united and organized his kingdom, but that he did so with the express purpose of making it a Christian nation. He established dioceses and churches throughout Hungary, invited missionaries to preach the Gospel, and wrote laws that reflected Christian moral teaching. He was also a man of personal holiness and great charity—known to dress in disguise so he could give alms to the poor without drawing attention to himself. One amazing tradition says that on his deathbed in 1038, he offered his whole kingdom to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, entrusting his people to her care. This legacy is still visible today—Hungary remains one of the most strongly Christian countries in Europe, with a national identity that has not bent easily to the secular liberal ideologies which undermine Catholic teaching.
Our first reading from Deuteronomy gives us Moses’ great call to Israel: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Stephen took this commandment seriously—not just in his personal life but in shaping the life of an entire nation. Like Moses, he knew that love for God must be passed on: taught to children, lived out in daily life, and made visible in the culture.
In our Gospel, Jesus’ parable of the talents teaches us that God entrusts each of us with gifts—not for hoarding, but for fruitful use in His service. Stephen received the “talents” of leadership, political authority, and a fervent faith. Instead of burying them in the ground out of fear or self-interest, he multiplied them by building a kingdom rooted in the Gospel. His rule shows us that when we use our gifts boldly for God, we become part of something that outlives our own legacy.
For us today, the lesson is clear: we may not be kings or queens, but each of us has been given talents—our time, our abilities, our relationships, our opportunities. God expects us to use them for His glory, to build His Kingdom in our families, our workplaces, and our communities. Like Saint Stephen, we can “write God’s law on the doorposts of our houses” by living in such a way that faith is visible and contagious.
Saint Stephen’s life is a reminder that holiness and leadership are not opposites—they belong together. Whatever our role in life, the path to true greatness is found in loving God above all, serving others, and courageously investing the gifts He has entrusted to us.
May Saint Stephen of Hungary intercede for us, that we might hear those same words from the Lord one day: “Well done, good and faithful servant… Come, share your Master’s joy.”
It is known as “The Holy Right” and every year on August 20th, Hungary takes it out for a walk. The occasion is Saint Stephen’s Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the founder of the Hungarian nation. Curiously, St. Stephen, or a least a part of him, faithfully attends his celebration every year. The Holy Right is the right fist of St. Stephen himself and his relic leads the parade each year.
Saint Stephen was canonized in 1083, and as part of the process of saint-ing, his corpse was exhumed from his crypt. It is said that his right arm (though not the rest of him apparently) was found to be as fresh as the day he was buried. The supple arm was promptly lopped off to be preserved and venerated.
The mummified hand went through a number of owners before returning to Hungary. In the 13th century during the Tartar invasion, it was sent to Dubrovnik in Croatia safekeeping by the Dominican monks. It is believed that around this time the monks cut the hand from the arm and sent the upper arm to Lemburg, and the lower arm to Vienna. A common practice in those days was to keep each branch of the church from getting jealous.
In 1771, the Austro-Hungarian empire took the Holy Right and placed it in Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna (the Hapsburg’s summer home) before eventually returning it to Hungary. However as the front of WWll approached Budapest in 1944, the Holy Right was again taken back into Austria and was kept by the archbishop of Salzburg. At long last, on August 20, 1945, the priest of the American army brought the hand from Austria to its rightful Hungarian owners.
Today, the mummified "Holy Right" resides in an ornate golden reliquary in the Basilica of St. Stephen. Drawn into a tight fist and clutching precious jewels, the hand—now shrunken and yellowed—still manages an air of righteous defiance.
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