Diocese of Stuhlweissenburg (Székes-Fehérvàr)

DIOCESE OF STUHLWEISSENBURG (ALBAE REGALENSIS)

Diocese in Hungary, and Suffragen of Gran. It was formed in 1777 from the dioceses of Gyor and Veszprem. In earlier times there was here a collegiate chapter of the Diocese of Veszprem, founded in 1006 by King St. Stephen; it was under a provost and was endowed with great privileges, the provost being chosen by the chapter, and the members of the chapter by the provost. Provost, chapter, and church were exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishop and directly subject to the pope. The chapter members were recruited from the chief families, and were once about forty, but in 1543, during the invasions of the Turks, the chapter became extinct, though the provosts and canons were yet nominated. The Provost of Stuhlweissenburg, according to the laws of the thirteenth century, was royal chancellor. The archives of the chapter were the most important in Hungary, and preserved a copy of the Golden Bull of 1222, the Magna Charta of Hungary. During the invasion of the Turks these archives were destroyed. The cathedral, in which the royal insignia were preserved, was later enlarged by the kings of Hungary and richly decorated. In 1601 it was destroyed by the Turks. From 1380 to 1527 Stuhlweissenburg was both coronation and burial place for the Hungarian kings. The diocese includes the entire County of Fejér and a part of the ancient County of Pilis, also the Island of Csepel in the Danube. Budapest, the capital of Hungary, though territorially within this diocese, is subject to the Archbishop of Gran.

The first Bishop of Stuhlweissenburg was Ignatius Nagy (1777-1789). Among his successors are Joseph Kopácsy (1821-1825), afterwards Archbishop of Gran; Vincent Jekelfalussy (1866-1874), the first Hungarian bishop to promulgate the dogma of the infallibility without previously asking the royal consent ( placet regium), and for which he was rebuked. In 1901 Bishop Julius Városy was appointed Archbishop of Kalocsa. At present the see is ruled by Ottokar Prohaszka, a famous preacher and leader of the Hungarian Catholic movement. The diocese is divided into arch-deaconries; the parish priests number 92, and the clergy 152. In the diocese are 8 abbeys and 5 provostships, 4 monasteries for men and 12 for women, in all 109 members. Right of patronage belongs to 46 persons. Since 1841 the cathedral chapter, at the head of which is a chief provost, consists of 8 canons; the Catholic faithful are 230,305.

Das katholische Ungarn (Budapest, 1902) in Hungarian; Schematismus of the Diocese for 1910; KAROLY, Hist. of the County of Fejer (Szekes-Fehevar, 1886-1901), in Hungarian.

A. ALDASY