August 16th.  St. Stephen of Hungary.

The Magyars, who came to what we know as Hungary in the 9th century, were at least nominally Christians.  Stephen [Istvan], who succeeded as Duke of the Magyars in 997, was far more than nominal.  He obtained a title of kingship from the Pope, Silvester II, being crowned in 1001.  A genuinely pious man, he also used the Christian faith to develop the unity of the state and dilute tribal factions: he established the boundaries of episcopal sees, and also developed monasteries; Esztergom, the ‘Canterbury of Hungary’, was his foundation.  Some of his methods may seem more or less totalitarian: his severity against paganism, his strong crusade for personal morality, his insistence that everybody should marry (except for clergy and religious); but he was also a servant of the poor, often going in disguise to take them alms – and once nearly being murdered as a result.  His son Emeric unfortunately predeceased him, which meant that on his death in 1038 there was no obvious successor and much of his work was undone.  He was from an early date seen as a formative saint in the history of the Hungarian people, and his tomb in Buda became a shrine.