To leave light

"It would be good to leave light," the Franciscan monk Végvári Vazul once told me. Even then, he knew long ago that he would not leave this world without leaving a single ray behind.

I don't know when the third child of the eight-child family began to follow the light, perhaps when he entered the Franciscan order in 1948 after graduating from Hadaprod school. He also said at the time that his decision was strengthened by a ray of light, despite the fact that many people wanted to talk him out of the priestly vocation. However, he wanted to serve, do something for the poor, do something for his country and God. He could not have known at the time, he was doing all of this for more than forty years away from Hungary, across the Operentian sea.

As a novice, he served as a prefect in the Franciscan boarding school in Esztergom, where he was ordained a priest. As a confessor, choir leader, and student stage director, he nurtured, educated, and taught young people here as well. As head of department, he led his first class when news of the revolution reached the school in 1956. And the light called again! This is how he remembers it: "When the head of the house heard that the revolution had broken out in Budapest, everyone in the common room listened in disbelief. He looked around, pointed at me and said: Vazul, I forbid you in the name of obedience so that you don't dare to move. He knew me as my history teacher and as head of house, and I knew at that moment that I was going to leave."

”When the Hungarian and the Christian conflict in us, then the individual conscience must decide what to do"

And he started. He marched on foot to the capital, where he sought Cardinal Mindszenty to offer him his services. He didn't find Mindszenty then, but the schoolboy and the priest again spurred him to action. He became the field chaplain of the revolutionaries and later the commander of the Buda Castle defenders. He organized the service, provided for the soldiers, and maintained order and discipline. They defended the castle as long as possible. Then they were spotted from a Soviet plane and from the full fire gave the order: to leave the position. And in these days, Végvári Vazul no longer followed the light, but he himself lit the world for the revolutionaries who were desperate but longed for the hope of freedom and independence.

"Day of the Dead...

In Budapest, rightly called the pearl of the Danube, the streets were dark in many places. But a flickering flickering flame flashes here and there in the squares, in the windows and behind the broken glass panes of shop windows... It is the night of the dead: the night of heroes and martyrs. Let's remember! How painful and vivid this memory is now - because it happened not long ago. I stand in front of the freshly dug graves, hat off, tearful. And while the wind blows the black veils of memory next to the triumphant national flag, on the noses of houses damaged by tank cannon fire, I greet tomorrow with painful pride. On His grave beautiful flowers sprout; the roses of freedom. And now - on the day of dead heroes - caressing their heads, remembering our blessed and grateful Hungarian heart, I light the candle of remembrance that gives light and warmth and shows direction in the night of destruction."

Written by Végvári Vazul in the University Youth on November 3, 1956.

The Soviets searched for the "brown poppa" with great efforts and captured her, but when they were transferred from the AVH prison in Győr to the Soviet detention center at the Székesfehérvár airport, she escaped and fled to Vienna through the resettled minefield. Father Vazul raised the light stronger and higher here as well. He carried out the spiritual and social care of the mass refugees from the Franciscan monastery in Vienna; then he became the founding pastor-director of the Altkettenhof (Schwechat) dormitory camp near Vienna, in the winter of 1956 and the spring of '57 he managed the affairs of families, students and many intellectual refugees in the camp. It helped me start over and move on. He provided many with scholarships at European and overseas universities. - In addition to spiritual and social service, he took part in the activities of revolutionary emigration, and was a delegate at the founding of the Strasbourg Revolutionary Council. Agents of the secret service "reaching out" after him, disguised as refugees, tried several times to discredit him and trap him, but without success. In July 1957, his church leader thought it would be better to get as far away from Hungary as possible and, on his instructions, he joined the Hungarian Franciscan community in the USA.

As a pastor, scout leader and commander, and editor-presenter of Hungarian Families Radio, he kept the faith in the emigrants, taught faith, patriotism, and the knowledge and use of the mother tongue to second-generation Hungarians born abroad. At that time, the light that not only followed, but also spread throughout the Hungarian community was shining very brightly.

The court of the Kádár system sentences him to death for his 56 activities. In 1959, in the building of the Soviet delegation to the UN, he offered to appear before a Hungarian court if the juveniles convicted on similar charges and awaiting execution were released and handed over to the International Red Cross. It was not successful!

In 1973, when Cardinal Mindszenty arrived on the continent for an American tour, he chose him as his press secretary. And then the meeting expected in 56 finally takes place, the two bright stars shine together for a while.

Even after this, Father Vazul tirelessly serves the Hungarians living abroad. He leads scout camps and speaks to his listeners in his native language once a week on the air on the broadcasts of the Voice of Hungarian America. In his programs, he does not let them forget their historical, literary and religious values, in addition to Hungarian folk music.

In 1978, before the Carter administration returned the Holy Crown to Hungary, he was invited to the White House in Washington as a consultant. This is what he told me about it:- I helped to get the crown jewels home, to see if the Hungarian people would recognize the saint's crown. "Many people opposed the return from emigration, though." They did not want to give the holy relics to the communists.

And the light shines more and more blindingly in the hands of Father Vazul! He is a frequent presenter and speaker at church, cultural and national events, and a well-known participant in discussions at round table conferences and lectures. His books and volumes of poems bear witness to his endless patriotism in addition to painful homesickness. He also supported the forces of the unfolding regime change from across the sea. He organized meetings with the representatives of the parties that make up the opposition round table visiting America. Thus, for example, József Antal and Géza Jeszenszky organized and led meetings and discussions with American Hungarians during their stay there.

In 1997, he was allowed to settle in his homeland after more than forty years of exile. Vázul Végvári brought us home the light he collected and nurtured in his soul during more than forty years of exile. He couldn't be idle here either. He edited a school newspaper and published music CDs. Three of his volumes were also published here, in which he collects poems, prose writings and historical reminiscences. Until his death, he worked as a retired pastor in the Franciscan monastery in Esztergom. the founding editor-in-chief of Hídfő ( the newspaper of the Esztergom Millennium Social College).

As the former commander of the freedom fighter groups organized in the Buda Castle area during the 1956 revolution, he was awarded the Order of Merit "For the Homeland and Freedom" by the President of the Republic of Hungary on October 23, 1991.

I could write that the light went out in September 2011, but it wouldn't be close to the truth. His friends, students, fellow priests, American and home congregations still see it today and carry it on. We know that his dream, which he expressed to me at the time, has come true. "It would be good to leave light like the Messiah"!