Hungarian music filled the warm, evening spring air at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Wellington on Friday, 21 November, as a special plaque was unveiled to commemorate Cardinal József Mindszenty.
Dozens of people—including Hungarian Ambassador Dr Gábor Nagy, Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand Archbishop Gábor Pintér, and members of the Hungarian community in Wellington and the lower North Island—filled the cathedral for the unveiling of the plaque.
Also the Archbishop of Esztergom in Hungary, József Mindszenty was imprisoned by the Nazis in the Second World War. After the war, he was imprisoned again—this time by the communists who took over Hungary, who tortured and sentenced Mindszenty to life in prison in a show trial. Freed during the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, Mindszenty took shelter in the U.S. Embassy, where he remained for 15 years.
Finally allowed to leave in 1971, he spent the rest of his life in exile, and died in 1975. Shortly before his death, he visited Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in December 1974.
An important and inspiring figure for the Hungarian diaspora around the world, one of his famous quotes is, “Goodness is the greatest truth.”
The plaque made in Hungary, the unveiling was followed by a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer in Hungarian, then the singing of the national anthems of Hungary and Aotearoa New Zealand. Finally, everyone gathered in the cathedral foyer for Hungarian desserts generously made by the sisters in the Nuncio’s office, including “Hungarian biscuits” called pogácsa.
The plaque can be seen next to a window in an aisle next to the pews of the nave of the cathedral, towards the back from where the altar is.
