Even after traveling more than nine hundred kilometers, we were able to speak in our mother tongue and meet Hungarian-speaking people there as well. This is how the joy of the trip and pilgrimage organized by the Bratislava Hungarian Catholic Community between July 22 and 27 can be summed up. In addition to important historical sites in Transylvania, two farewell pilgrimage sites - Csíksomlyo and Máriaradna - were also visited by devotees who traveled from Bratislava and its surroundings.
After seven years, the members of the community, led by the Hungarian Catholic pastor from Bratislava, Tamás Molnár, set off again with a full bus to visit their acquaintances in Transylvania, to learn more about the beauty of the picturesque landscapes and the local culture, and the fate of the people who live there.
And of course, to bring their loved ones, their requests, their joys and sorrows, their good and bad things, the prayer intentions entrusted to them by others in their prayers to Our Lady.
On Monday, July 22, the first day of the trip, the group prayed in Déva, where after the participants had learned about the many years of and still blessed work of the foundation helping disadvantaged children, the dreamer of the foundation himself, Father Franciscan Csaba Böjte, blessed the foundation for the next stage of the journey. believers. Afterwards, the hikers could enjoy the hospitality of the people of Cernakeresztur.
On Tuesday, after Vajdahunyad and Nagyszeben, the participants of the bus tour got to know György Sepsiszent better. At the latter location, the Holy Mass celebrated by Father Tamás was offered for the sick in St. Joseph's Church.
The third day of the tour began among the headstones of the Nyerges-tetó, where they sang the Hungarian national anthem while standing around the many memorial pillars as part of the commemoration. The inhabitants of the highlands prayed to the Southern Angel together with the people of Csíkkozmás in the church of the settlement.
Csíkkozmás is the sister settlement of Csallóközcútértí near Bratislava. The mayor, László Szántó and his colleagues, as well as some residents of the village, gave the guests a warm welcome.
In the afternoon, the group of pilgrims arrived in Csíksomlyo, where they celebrated mass in the church of grace, and then, holding the saddle that serves as the site of the Pentecost farewells, the faithful prayed the Stations of the Cross for the Hungarian nation.
Photo: Hungarian Catholic Community of Bratislava/Felvidék.ma
Pilgrims also had the opportunity to go up to the grace statue to present their personal requests to the Virgin Mary in silent prayer. The group also spent two nights in the pilgrimage house in Csíksomlyo, the same house where Pope Francis himself rested during his visit to Csíksomlyo in 2019. We are grateful to the Franciscan Provincial Superior János Erik Urbán serving at the shrine and the other Franciscan brothers for their sacrificial work, which they continue to do for the sake of the pilgrims.
On Thursday morning, the pilgrim group celebrated mass in Madéfalva, after the local parish priest, Father Zoltán Jakab Bartalus, and the people helping in his parish surrounded the faithful from the highlands with great love. Afterwards, the group prayed and laid wreaths at the monument erected in memory of the Madefalv disaster and the former Székely murder.
Continuing the journey, it was a great experience to reach the thousand-year border and see Gyimesbükk. Having traveled not much less than a thousand kilometers, realizing that the county of Bratislava at one end was once part of the same Kingdom of Hungary, as was the county of Csík at the other end, to whose settlements the Hungarian group from the highlands reached, is certainly not an everyday feeling. After that, the exhibition guides, who captured everyone's attention, guided the moved tourists through a new border guard museum.
Towards the end of the day, the group visited Csíkszentmihály, the sister town of Bős in the highlands, where the mayor, Lórán Izsák-Székely, and the deputy mayor led the guests around, showing them the treasures of the village. The current mayor of the village was the one who brought the sacrificial donations to Pope Ferenc with his wife and children in Székely folk costumes during the papal visit to Csíksomlyo five years ago.
On Friday, the participants reached Székelyudvarhely, and then visited Gyulafehérvár, where the spiritual leader of the group, Father Tamás, celebrated mass at the main altar of the cathedral. The day ended in Ópálos.
From there, the pilgrims left on Saturday morning, the last day of the joint pilgrimage and trip, to Máriaradna, where they participated in a thanksgiving mass.
Franciscan Father Csaba Böjte blessed the faithful - Photo: Pozsonyi Hungarian Catholic Community/Felvidék.ma
The local priest, Canon Reinholz Andreas, showed the place of worship with great affection, where multilingual Masses are regularly celebrated. During the journey, wreaths were laid in Arad, and then the pilgrims from the highlands, married couples, young and old, arrived home after passing through Hungary.
During the journey, the escort Judith Bokor from Székelyudvarhely enriched both the knowledge and the hearts of the passengers with useful and at the same time touching, extensive knowledge, and in many cases with her personal experiences. In addition to leading the spiritual programs, which were coordinated by Father Tamás Molnár, flight attendant Tamás Szerda and jr. To bus driver György Tomanovics.
The often played national prayer and Hungarian church songs, as well as the atmosphere of the Masses and wreaths, but equally the depth of Transylvanian and Upland relations, the hospitality experienced, and the six days spent together will probably remain a reality in the hearts of the pilgrims for a long time. Thank the Lord for that!
Source: Bratislava Hungarian Catholic Community/Felvidék.ma
