Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.
Showing posts with label Hungary.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hungary.. Show all posts

Saturday 13 September 2014

Saint Matthew's Cathedral (Matthias Church) (Mátyás-Templom), Budapest, Hungary.


Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.



Saint Matthew's Cathedral (on the sky-line)
Budapest, Hungary.
Image: SHUTTERSTOCK



English: Saint Matthew's Cathedral (Mátyás-Templom),
Budapest, Hungary.
Magyar: Pestről nézve.
Photo: 12 November 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Thaler Tamas.
(Wikimedia Commons)



English: Coat-of-Arms of Hungary.
Blazon: “Per Pale, the first Barry of eight Gules and Argent, the second Gules, on a Mount Vert a Crown Or, issuant therefrom a Double Cross Argent. In Crest, The Holy Crown of Hungary.”
Címerleírás A Magyar Köztársaság címere hegyes talpú, hasított pajzs. Első mezeje vörössel és ezüsttel hétszer vágott. Második, vörös mezejében zöld hármas halomnak arany koronás kiemelkedő középső részén ezüst kettős kereszt. A pajzson a magyarSzent Korona nyugszik.
Français: Blason la Hongrie.
Blasonnement « Parti, au premier fascé de huit pièces de gueules et d'argent; au au deuxième de gueules, à la croix patriarchale pattée d'argent, issante d'une couronne d'argent, plantée au sommet d'un mont de trois coupeaux de sinople. Timbré de lacouronne de saint Étienne. »
Deutsch: Wappen Ungarn
Blasonierung „Der gespaltene Schild zeigt vorn ein siebenmal von Rot und Silber geteiltes Feld und hinten in Rot auf dem golden gekrönten, emporragenden mittleren Teile eines grünen Dreiberges ein doppeltes silbernes Tatzenkreuz. Der Schild wird bedeckt von der Stephanskrone.“



Magyar: Mátyás-templom.
English: Saint Matthias Church (Saint Matthew's Cathedral),
Budapest, Hungary.
Photo: 12 November 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Thaler Tamas.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Saint Matthew's Cathedral (Matthias Church) (Hungarian: Mátyás-templom) is a Roman Catholic Church located in Budapest, Hungary, in front of the Fisherman's Bastion, at the heart of Buda's Castle District.

According to Church tradition, it was originally built in the Romanesque Style in 1015. The current building was constructed, in the florid Late-Gothic-Style, in the second half of the 14th-Century and was extensively restored in the Late-19th-Century. It was the second-largest Church of Mediaeval Buda and the seventh-largest Church of the Medieval Hungarian Kingdom.



Saint Matthias Church,
Budapest, Hungary.
Photo: 16 April 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Funke.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Čeština: Budapešť.
English: The Choir, Sanctuary and High Altar,
Saint Matthias Church ((Mátyás-Templom),
Budapest, Hungary.
Photo: 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Dezidor.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Officially named as The Church of Our Lady, it has been popularly named after King Matthias, who ordered the transformation of its original Southern Tower. The Church was the scene of several Coronations, including that of Charles IV, in 1916 (the last Habsburg King).



Magyar: Mátyás-Templom, Budapest.
English: Saint Matthew's Cathedral
(The Church of Our Lady),
Budapest, Hungary.
Photo: 25 January 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: VinceB.
(Wikimedia Commons)



King Karl IV of Hungary, taking his Coronation Oath, 
30 December 1916,
standing on Holy Trinity Column, outside Matthias Church, Budapest.
Date: 25 December 2005 (original upload date).
Source: From source Transferred from en.wikipedia;
transferred to Commons by User:Quadell using CommonsHelper.
Author: Original uploader was Jtdirl at en.wikipedia
(Wikimedia Commons)


It was also the site for King Matthias's two weddings (the first to Catherine of Poděbrady and, after her death, to Beatrice of Naples). During the Century and a half of Turkish occupation, the vast majority of its Ecclesiastical Treasures were shipped to Pressburg (present-day Bratislava) and, following the capture of Buda, in 1541, the Church became the City's main mosque. Ornate frescoes, that previously adorned the walls of the building, were whitewashed, and interior furnishings stripped out.



Magyar: A Mátyás-templom reggeli napsütésben, madártávlatból.
English: Saint Matthias Church, Budapest, Hungary.
Photo: 14 April 2014.
Source: Own work.
Author: Thaler Tamas.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Church was also the place of the so-called "Mary-Wonder". In 1686, during the Siege of Buda, by the Holy League, a wall of the Church collapsed, due to cannon fire. It turned out that an old Votive Madonna Statue was hidden behind the wall. As the sculpture of The Virgin Mary appeared before the praying Muslims, the morale of the Garrison collapsed, and the City fell on the same day.



The High Altar,
Saint Matthias Church (Mátyás-Templom),
Budapest, Hungary.
Photo: 7 August 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: D4m1en.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Although, following the Turkish expulsion, in 1686, an attempt was made to restore the Church in the Baroque Style, historical evidence shows that the work was largely unsatisfactory. It was not until the great architectural boom, towards the end of the 19th-Century, that the building regained much of its former splendour. The architect responsible for this work was Frigyes Schulek.



Magyar: Mátyás-templom, augusztus 20.
English: Matthias Church, Budapest,
on Hungarian National Day, 20 August.
Photo: 27 January 2014.
Source: Own work.
Author: Thaler Tamas.
(Wikimdia Commons)



Magyar: A templom Ének és Zenekara.
Mátyás-Templom, Budapest.
English: Saint Matthew's Cathedral Choir.
Photo: 23 June 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Thaler Tamas.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Church was restored to its original 13th-Century Plan, but a number of early, original, Gothic elements were uncovered. By also adding new motifs of his own (such as the diamond-pattern roof tiles and gargoyles-laden Spire), Schulek ensured that the work, when finished, would be highly controversial.

It is home to the Ecclesiastical Art museum, which begins in the Mediaeval Crypt and leads up to the Saint Stephen Chapel. The Gallery contains a number of Sacred Relics and Mediaeval stone carvings, along with replicas of the Hungarian Royal Crown and Coronation Jewels.



English: The High Altar, Saint Matthew's Cathedral, Budapest,
showing Our Lady, to whom the Cathedral is Dedicated.
Magyar: Mátyás-templom, a főoltár részlete.
Photo: 1 September 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Thaler Tamas.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Magyar: Szent László-kápolna (Lotz Károly ferskói).
English: Chapel of Saint Lazlo, Saint Matthias Church, Budapest.
Photo: 10 July 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Thaler Tamas.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Magyar: Mennyezeti zárókő.
English: Ceiling Roof Boss,
surrounded by depictions of The Four Evangelists.
Saint Matthias Church, Budapest.
Photo: 10 July 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Thaler Tamas.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Magyar: Karácsonyi hangverseny a felújított templomban.
English: Children's Choir at Christmas,
Saint Matthias Church, Budapest.
Photo: 20 December 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Thaler Tamas.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Available (in U.K.) from

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Tuesday 18 March 2014

Lenten Station At The Basilica Of Santa Balbina. Tuesday Of The Second Week In Lent.


Roman Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines.
Violet Vestments.


File:230SBalbina.JPG

Italiano: Roma - Chiesa di S. Balbina.
English: Basilica of Saint Balbina,
Rome, Italy.
Photo: October 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: MarkusMark
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Lenten Station is at the Sanctuary of Saint Balbina, a Roman Virgin who lived in the 2nd-Century and whose remains lie under the Altar with those of her father, the martyr Saint Quirinus. This Church, which stands on a slope of the Aventine, was, in the 5th-Century, one of the twenty-five Parish Churches of Rome. Formerly, it was the house of a Roman lady, named Balbina, who was martyred during the persecution of Emperor Trajan.

The reason for the choice of this Church is explained by the Epistle, which speaks of the widow of Sarephta. Thus, is celebrated, the faith of one who transformed her residence into a Church.


File:San Saba - santa Balbina interno 1000904.JPG

Italiano: Santa Balbina a Roma: Interno. 
English: Interior of the Basilica of Saint Balbina, Rome.
Photo: January 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: Lalupa
(Wikimedia Commons)


Jesus declares in the Gospel that the Jews, who taught the Law of Moses, did not observe it. On the other hand, the Kingdom of God is open to the heathen, who, by Baptism, become disciples of Christ and do His works.

The Epistle tells of Elias going to a heathen widow woman of Sarephta to ask for nourishment, when a drought had fallen on impenitent Israel. The widow took two pieces of wood, typical of the cross of Jesus, and prepared a hearth cake for the Prophet and one for herself.. Her compassion was rewarded, for never after did she want for bread. Whereas the Jews suffer from the scarcity, the Gentiles, as a reward for their fidelity, receive daily the Eucharistic bread, which applies to them the merits gained for them by the Saviour on the Cross.

Let us pray that God may grant us the grace of perseverance in the observance of the Fast, of which He has set us an example (Collect).



and Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Balbinae, Rome.


Santa Balbina is a Basilica Church in Rome, devoted to Saint Balbina. It was built in the 4th-Century, over the house of consul Lucius Fabius Cilo, on the Aventine Hill, behind the Baths of Caracalla. Possibly the ancient Titulus Tigridae, the Basilica was consecrated by Pope Gregory I.

The adjoining Monastery has a commanding Mediaeval defence Tower. Inside the Basilica, there is a very fine Episcopal Chair, with a Cosmatesque decoration, from the 13th-Century. The Church was heavily restored in the 1930s, when frescoes were discovered on the side walls from the 9th-Century to the 14th-Century.



File:External Ornaments of a Cardinal Bishop.svg

External Ornaments of a Cardinal who is a Bishop.
Date: 26 May 2011.
Source: Own work, elements by Heralder and Alekjds.
Author: Adelbrecht.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Baroque frescoes in the Apse, and the triumphal Arch, were painted by Anastasio Fontebuoni in 1599. The Arch is decorated with the figures of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, while, in the Apse, we can see Saint Balbina between other martyrs. An ancient Sarcophagus was also discovered during the restoration. It is now used as a Font.



There is a strong connection between the Basilica of Santa Balbina, Rome, and Hungary. 
In 1270, the first known Hungarian Cardinal, István Váncsa, was buried in the Basilica. 
The current Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Balbinae is Péter Erdő


In 1270, the first known Hungarian Cardinal, István Váncsa, was buried in the Basilica. Another 13th-Century Hungarian Clergyman, Pál, Bishop of Paphos, erected an Altar in the Church for Saint Nicholas. Both the Altar and the Grave disappeared during later centuries, but a Plaque commemorates the offerings of Pál.

The Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Balbinae is Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom. According to Péter Erdő, the Hungarian connections of this Church played a part in Pope John Paul II's decision when he chose Santa Balbina for Archbishop Erdő's
 Titular Church. The Cardinal also recommended Hungarian pilgrims to visit the Basilica and said he feels a special responsibility for the building. Among the previous Titulars are Alfonso de la Cueva, marqués de Bedmar, and Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros.

Father Simpliciano of the Nativity founded the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts here.



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