Archbishop of Esztergom and cardinal sentenced to life in a 1949 show trial, who sheltered in the US embassy in Budapest from 1956
Born at Csehimindszent in Vas County into a family with a German surname, he was ordained in 1915 and in 1919 was arrested by the Károlyi and then the Kun government. He later took the name Mindszenty from his home village. Consecrated Bishop of Veszprém in March 1944, he was arrested by the Arrow Cross government in November and released in April 1945. Appointed Archbishop of Esztergom and Primate in 1945 and made a cardinal in 1946, he resisted the Communists, notably over church schools. Arrested in December 1948 and beaten until he confessed, he was sentenced to life imprisonment at a show trial in February 1949. Freed during the 1956 revolution, he took refuge in the US embassy when the Soviets invaded and stayed there fifteen years. Allowed to leave in 1971, he settled in Vienna; in February 1974 Paul VI declared the see of Esztergom vacant, and he died in Vienna in 1975.
Activities and affiliations
- 1944–1974 Religion
Career Timeline
- 1915Ordained priest
- 1919Arrested by the Károlyi and Béla Kun governments
- 1944Bishop of Veszprém; arrested by the Arrow Cross government in November
- 1945–1974Archbishop of Esztergom, Primate of Hungary
- 1946Made a cardinal
- 1948–1949Arrested; sentenced to life at a show trial
- 1956–1971Freed in the revolution; refuge in the US embassy in Budapest
- 1971–1975Exile in Vienna