Egy bencés főpapi karrier : Szigfrid apát életútja (1300-as évek eleje-1365)

Absztrakt

Abbot Sigfrid belonged to the most remarkable members of the Hungarian clergy. As a Benedictine abbot he started off in Széplak. Later he became the superior of Garamszentbenedek, and finally he finished his ecclesiastical career in Pannonhalma. He was involved in several local and international affairs. The most noteworthy is the role he played in the Hungarian Benedictine reform movement as well as in the arrangement of the Order's landed properties (1327-1342). Among the Benedictine reform movements sweeping across Western Europe, this might be the most successful one. As a result, the Hungarian Benedictines held nationwide general chapters every second year. Abbot Sigfrid also served as a diplomat. In 1346, when Louis I, King of Hungary wanted to gain the alliance of Edward III, King of England in a campaign against Naples, he was sent as an envoy. On the other hand, the abbot played an important role in the investigation concerning the recognition of the episcopal rights of the Szepes chapter house (1348). The above activities took place during his abbotship in Garamszentbenedek (1330-1355). Afterwards, as an appreciation of his merits, he received the abbotship of Pannonhalma that he held until 1365. Starting from a proprietary monastery (Széplak), through a royal foundation (Garamszentbenedek) to the abbotship of the most respectable Benedictine monastery in Hungary (Pannonhalma), his career is a typical example of the prelatic emergence within the Benedictine Order, though unique in the sense of good documentation.