18th century Panegyrics of Neoconcionators in the Stephaneum in Trnava

Abstract

Referring to the decision of the Council of Trent on June 15, 1563, Miklós Oláh, Archbishop of Esztergom, founded the so-called Ancient Seminary (Seminarium Antiquissimum, April 23, 1566) with the title of Virgin Mary in Nagyszombat (today Trnava, Slovakia), whose founding document was dated May 9, 1566. The operation of this number one priest seminary in the Kingdom of Hungary can be considered continuous; it was remodeled by Péter Pázmány in 1630, its rules followed the Pazmaneum (Vienna) from then on, and it was named Stephaneum after the first Hungarian king, Saint Stephen. In the seminary, above all, philosophical and theological sciences were taught. Its annual main feast was held on August 20, St. Stephen's Day. The paper deals with the so far unresearched twenty-seven speeches of St. Stephen delivered at the main feast of the Stephaneum in Latin between 1716–1782 and independently published in print in Trnava, with particular regard to the fact that these speeches continuously contributed to the cultivation and maintenance of the 18thcentury cult, as well as to the strengthening of the sense of identity of the Kingdom of Hungary.