The recently published book by Béla Horváth and Angelika Viktória Nagy, which is a transcript of the Mária Rádió's program series, commemorates the members of the church who have been honored with the Shield of Faith Award. In it, they gathered uplifting life stories and testimonies verified by personal interviews and conversations, commemorating those who remained loyal to their faith and their Hungarianness even under the communist dictatorship.
A book by Béla Horváth and Angelika Viktória Nagy was recently published on Mária Rádio under the title Hit pajzsa laureates, edited by Antológia Kiadó.
Béla Horváth, a former Member of Parliament, a member of the Mindszenty Society, and one of the founders of the Hit Shield Award, told our newspaper about the history of the publication: he previously wrote a book entitled The History of the Hit Shield Award in Pictures.
He presented the publication to Tamás Szabó, the volunteer president of Mária Rádió, who, after learning about the book, entrusted Béla Horváth with a soul-lifting work. He asked him to produce a series of programs about the Shield of Faith awardees for Mária Radio.
The structure of the show was entirely invented by Béla Horváth. One broadcast was dedicated to the Shield of Faith award, the other times the awardees were presented in 50-55 minutes. If a monk, sister or priest passed away in the meantime, fellow religious, friends and acquaintances spoke in the program about him.
Béla Horváth collected the interviews conducted with the awardees at the time of the award ceremony, and details were selected from them, and audio material of the award ceremony was also played. And if a program was about a live awardee, Béla Horváth voiced him.
There were those whom he traveled to the countryside and talked to in person, others he interviewed on the phone, but for example the Piarist monk Lajos Kerényi went into the studio himself.
The programs were recorded, because I am a maximalist, a lot had to be cut, said Béla Horváth.
He added: he was also the music editor of the production, classical music and Gregorian melodies were played in the programs. A divine poem by the other founder of the Shield of Faith Award, Tibor Kossuth and József Attila award-winning Hungarian writer and poet Gyurkovics, was also recited. Béla Horváth also tried to cherish the memory of Tibor Gyurkovics.
The recently published book "Hit pajzsa awardees in Mária Radio" is actually a transcript of the radio program series. His co-author, Viktória Angelika Nagy, an employee of Mária Rádió and the assigned manager of the program series, was of great help in preparing this.
He provided serious help, for example, in editing the programs, but he also organized the typing of the spoken materials.
Béla Horváth explained: making the series gave him a lot mentally, the award ceremonies had the biggest emotional impact on him. At the end of the program series, it became clear to me that these are important, valuable life stories and meaningful interviews that should not just be broadcast on the air, but should also be immortalized, thus the publication was born. It is a great honor that Cardinal Péter Erdő wrote the book's recommendation, while President Tamás Szabó wrote the foreword, the former member of parliament pointed out.
The book cannot be purchased commercially, radio volunteers and rural studio staff will receive it by mail. At the same time, anyone who wants to recharge spiritually can access it for free in the Mária Rádió editorial office.
Source: Hungarian Nation
Featured image: László Körössy/Hungarian Kurír
