012012 - Prešovská univerzita v Prešove

THEOLOGOS 1/2012 | ŠTÚDIE
The plan stirred up a huge controversy. Legal battles ensued in which
Eger and Munkács respectively took into consideration every possible
argument in their own favor. Bacsinszky not only desired that the church
at Mindszent be turned over to him but also that the Bishop of Eger
Károly Eszterházy transfer the center of the newly established parish from
Görömböly to Csaba. During the debate the number of Greek and Latin
rite faithful living in Miskolc and its vicinity came to play an important
role. 34
Above all Bacsinszky pointed out that according to the 1777 August
4 county conscriptio, 104 (to be more exact 108) Greek Catholics have
permanent residence in Miskolc, whereas the number of Latin rite Catholics
is 296. Nevertheless the number of Uniate faithful who regularly stayed in
the town was 211. Not only the Greek Catholic residents desired to have
their own church but those scattered in the surrounding fourteen villages,
who were under the jurisdiction of the parish at Sajópálfalva, also favored
such a church. These included most especially the forty-nine villagers at
Bessenyő, the one hundred and six souls at Szirma Bessenyő, and the
forty-nine inhabitants of Sajó Kereszt Úr, many of whom often came to
market in Miskolc on Sundays. Thus the religious needs of a significant
number of people needed to be met. (We might note that this interesting
phenomenon has not changed during the last two hundred years. Even
today many people seek assistance with their various personal problems
and come by bus from a far wider region to Miskolc in order to visit the
inner city Greek Catholic church on Búza Square, which is conveniently
situated right next to the bus terminal and market.) Consequently 415
Uniate believers lived in Miskolc and its vicinity, which represented
a considerable body of faithful, and who required an appropriate sized
church building. Furthermore Mindszent lies outside of the town, and so
the interests of the Roman Catholics in Miskolc are not curtailed.
Why was Bacsinszky so interested in this rearrangement of the
conditions in Miskolc? 35 If we examine the county conscriptio more closely,
we will discover some interesting aspects of the local situation. Of the
108 Greek Catholic residents only fifteen were entirely Uniate couples.
In addition we find twenty-four couples of mixed marriages, five Greek
rite widows, and assorted children. Among the mixed marriages we can
observe a noteworthy tendency. When the father was a Roman Catholic
the children in four cases all followed his religion. In four additional
34 The following is based on the document submitted to the Borsod county assembly by
Praepositus János Pásztélyi, EFL Arch. Vet. 1596.
35 Conscriptio Catholicorum pure Graeci ritus et mixti ritus in Oppido Miskolc existentium,
EFL Arch. Vet. 230.
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