Barna Gábor (szerk.): Ethnology of Religion - Studies in Ethnology 1. (Budapest, 2004)
Gábor Barna: Sándor Bálint (1904-1980): A Life's Work in Religious Ethnology Croatia
Sándor Bálint (1904-1980) 15 cal of the milieu in which these works appeared is the fact that only the publishing house of the Catholic Church was willing to bring them out. Karácsony, húsvét, pünkösd surveys the traditions related to the major church feasts and the liturgical and paraliturgical phenomena that infiltrated into everyday life. The two volumes of Ünnepi kalendárium review the feasts of Mary and the saints in the order of the Church Year, month by month. Each description starts with a comprehensive survey and interpretation of the relevant sources. For each feast Bálint lists the historical facts and relevant legends, apocryphal and literary traditions, and the role of liturgy and monasticism. He reviews the results of patrocinium and settlement history, and iconography. He gives highly detailed descriptions of the prayers, codices, popular literature, and folk hymn books, and also examines the sacramentals, beliefs, paraliturgical customs and culinary traditions.35 In Szeged reneszánszkori műveltsége [Renaissance Culture in Szeged] Bálint outlined Szeged’s socio-economic history and its cultural aspects in the 15th and 16th centuries.36 He gave a vivid description of monastic culture, the university and literary culture imported by Szeged students studying abroad, and of the role of the Szeged diasporas that were formed in the wake of the Reformation and the Turkish occupation. He was the first to examine the Szeged aspects37 of the miracle stories recorded at the grave of Saint John Capistran (who died after the capture of Nándorfehérvár)38 at Újlak (today Ilok, Yugoslavia). His immense background knowledge of the topic is remarkable. His interdisciplinary, synthesising attitude has not lost its freshness and is truly exemplary. The same can be said about his book Szeged-Alsóváros which appealed posthumously. The subtitle is Templom és társadalom [Church and Society]. Bálint examines the history, everyday life and religious culture of this agrarian quarter of the town in relation to the Franciscan monastery and church. The presence and unique spirituality of the Franciscan order to a large extent determined the spiritual culture of not only the Alsóváros, but also the whole town and area. That is particularly tangible in the local pilgrimage cult. The Franciscan church in Szeged-Alsóváros is a Marian pilgrimage place. Its pilgrimage feast, Our Lady of the Snow (5 August), brought together the religious life within a radius of several hundred kilometres. Szeged-Alsóváros is regarded as the first Hungarian monograph on a pilgrimage place.39 Published in the yearbook of the Ferenc Móra Museum, the three hefty tomes of A szögedi nemzet [The People of Szeged] is a summary of his researches in and around Szeged. The third volume appeared posthumously in 1980.40 In it, Bálint sums up his previous researches on the religious folk life of his home town. He maintains that the uniqueness and homogeneous religious life of the Szeged region was most apparent in its feast customs, 35 Bálint 1973, Bálint 1977. 36 Bálint 1975. 37 For a subsequent detailed analysis see Fügedi 1981. 38 The victorious battle against the Turks at Nándorfehérvár (today Belgrade) on 22 July 1456 halted Ottoman advance for fifty years. Prior to the siege, on 29 June 1456, Pope Calixtus III ordered the bells to be rung at midday to remind the faithful that they should pray for the welfare of the crusaders. After the battle he made the feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord (6 August) a universal event. 39 Bálint 1983. 40 Bálint 1976, 1978 and 1980.