[Rank]
St. Stephen, King of Hungary, Confessor;;Semiduplex;;2;;vide C5

[Oratio]
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that even as thy blessed Confessor Stephen, while he was a King upon earth, was her forwarder, so, now that he is a glorious Saint in heaven, he may be her defender.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
This Stephen (was the son of Geysa, fourth Duke of the Hungarians, and was born at Gran in the year 977.) He it was who first gave to Hungary the faith of Christ and the name of a kingdom. He obtained the Kingly crown from the Bishop of Rome, and being by command of the same anointed King, he made an offering of his kingdom to the Apostolic See. With wonderful devotion and bounty he founded diverse godly houses at Rome, Jerusalem, and Constantinople, and in Hungary the Archbishopric of Gran and ten other Sees. Toward the poor he had the same love and bounty. He greeted them as though they were Christ Himself, and never sent any one away sorrowing and empty. He spent vast sums in relieving their poverty, and also often parted among them with exceeding tenderness even the furniture of his house. Moreover it was his use to wash the feet of the poor with his own hands, and to go in the night, alone and unknown, to the hospitals, and to wait on them that lay there, and show them other deeds of kindness. It was the reward of these good works that, when the rest of his body decayed, his right hand remained uncorrupt.

[Lectio5]
He passed almost whole nights in earnest prayer, and when totally rapt in the thought of heavenly things, he sometimes became beside himself, and was seen to rise off the ground into the air. In more than one instance he strangely escaped through the power of prayer from rebellion, treason, and the onslaughts of mighty foes. He married Gisela of Bavaria, sister to the holy Emperor Henry, and begat on her Emeric, whom he trained up in such manners and godliness, as are shown by his also becoming a Saint. To carry on the business of his kingdom, he gathered together from all quarters the most learned and godly men, and took nothing in hand without their advice. Meanwhile he entreated of God by the most lowly supplications, offered up in sack-cloth and ashes, that, before he departed this life, he might see all Hungary Catholic. On account of his excellent zeal for the spread of the Faith he is called the Apostle of that nation, and the Bishop of Rome gave to him and to his successors the right to have a Cross carried before them.

[Lectio6]
He had a burning zeal to honour the Mother of God. He built a very great Church in her honour, and made her Patroness of Hungary. In return, the same Virgin received him into heaven, (in the year 1038,) upon the day of her own Assumption, which the Hungarians, by the example of the holy King, call “the Great Lady's Day.” His hallowed body yielded the sweetest savour, and reeked with an heavenly liquid, and amid many and diverse wonders it was removed by command of the Bishop of Rome into a more noble place, and more honourably buried. Pope Innocent XI. ordered his Feast to be held upon the 2nd day of September, on account of the famous victory over the Turks which was gained upon this day, (in the year 1686,) when the army of Leopold I., Emperor (elect) of the Romans, and King of Hungary, wrested from them, by the help of God, the city of Buda.

[Lectio94]
Stephen, King of Hungary, brought the faith of Christ and the title of kingdom to his country. He obtained his royal crown from the Pope, and, when he had been anointed King at the Pope's command, he offered his kingdom to the Apostolic See. He founded various religious houses at Rome, at Jerusalem, and at Constantinople. In Hungary, with wonderful devotion and generosity, he established the archiepiscopal See of Esztergom and ten other bishoprics. He was famous for his great love of the poor and his constancy in prayer. He ardently venerated the Mother of God, declaring her the Patroness of Hungary and building a very large church in her honour. In turn, he was received into heaven by the Virgin on the Feast of her Assumption, which in Hungary, by edict of the Holy King, was called the Day of the Great Lady. By decree of Pope Innocent XI, however, the Feast of this saintly King is kept on the day on which, with his help, the Christian army, in a hard-fought engagement, recovered the strongly fortified citadel of Buda.
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