The Jáki St. László chapel in the Vajdahunyad castle in Városliget has been renovated.
The renovated chapel was blessed by Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, on Saturday, the feast of Saint Pio, and then he celebrated mass.
Before the Mass, Miklós Soltész, the Prime Minister's State Secretary responsible for church and ethnic relations, spoke about the fact that he spent his childhood nearby, so he knows the area well, and the Jáki chapel has grown close to his heart.
We seized a historic opportunity together with the Catholic Church, "we didn't let go of each other's hand", so many churches in Budapest could be renovated, including the chapel, he said.
The Secretary of State wished that the chapel be filled with spirit as often as possible, and thanked the leaders, priests and believers of the Catholic Church for participating in the value-creating, value-saving and value-transmitting community collaboration.
Speaking about the renovation, Péter Erdő said,
"renewable beauty makes the history of places and communities come alive".
As a pavilion for the Millennium World Exhibition, a scaled-down replica of many of the beautiful buildings of old Hungary was created in the City Park. The Romanesque Jáki chapel fits into this ensemble, the "beautiful house of God" built on the model of the Jáki church, the cardinal recalled.
Péter Erdő said that the chapel has become a favorite place for the people of Budapest: people who pray and seek God, and especially those who wanted to get married in intimate, yet elevated circumstances.
The chapel still has a mission today: "in the middle of a pulsating city, the presence of Christ and the Christian faith must be represented," he emphasized.
Péter Erdő said that Jesus' teaching about the sower guides us: the troubles of life, if we only pay attention to them, can dry up the faith sprouting in our souls. But if we are not only listeners of Christ's teaching, the faith of the church expressed in words, but also his followers every day, then the sowing will bear abundant fruit in our individual lives, our families, our communities and the lives of our people. It gives meaning to the lives of individuals and communities. It gives strength and momentum to overcome fear, anxiety, and everyday troubles.
All people, families and communities have a vocation, even individual peoples have and can have a vocation. Christ gives us the confidence to recognize and fulfill this, whose mission did not end with the death on the cross, but was fulfilled in the resurrection, he emphasized.
Péter Erdő put it this way, "trust, the perception of life as a great program, can lead young people to take on the vocation of sacramental marriage for life and founding a family instead of all uncertainty."
András Pajor, president of the Christian Cultural Academy, parish priest of the Parish of the Holy Spirit in Budapest-Herminamező, said that in the past two decades, the chapel has started almost a thousand Hungarian Christian families through the marriages concluded here. As can be read on the website, the partial external and internal renovation of the chapel was carried out with HUF 200 million support from the Prime Minister's Office.
MTI
Featured image: The renewed Jáki Szent László chapel in Vajdahunyad Castle in Városliget on September 23, 2023.
The partial external and internal renovation of the chapel was realized with HUF 200 million support from the Prime Minister's Office. MTI/Zoltán Máthé
