- Stephan Szántó
Stephan Szántó (István Arator) (born in the
Diocese of Raab ,Hungary , 1541; died atOlmütz in 1612) was a HungarianJesuit .Life
On finishing his studies in
Vienna , he attached himself to the Diocese of Raab, and in 1560 was sent by his bishop to theGerman College at Rome. Here he joined the Jesuit order, and after his novitiate was ordained priest.In 1566 he returned to Vienna, and thence went as professor to
Nagy-Szombàt . The succeeding years were spent at the universities of Vienna andGraz , where he lectured on philosophy. In 1568 Szántó strove to found a Catholic mission forTransylvania , where Protestantism was making great headway; this project he continued in Rome, wither he was summoned in 1579 as Hungarian penitentiary. This last position he held until 1579.His endeavours to found a Hungarian College in Rome after the model of the German College met with but temporary success. The monastery of the
Hermits of St. Paul nearSanto Stefano Rotondo on theCoelian was to serve for this purpose; the deed of foundation was approved byPope Gregory XIII , and the college was opened on 28 May, 1579. The pope, however, soon united the college with the German College.At the end of 1579 Szántó left Rome, and proceeded to Transylvania, and the Catholic missions at
Klausenburg (Kolozavàr); and later atVárad . At this time occurred his literary polemics with the Protestant preacherPeter Beregszàszi , against which he wrote his "Epistola apologetica".In 1585, Szàntó proceeded to
Gyula-Fehérvàr , and thence, on the expulsion of the Jesuit order from Transylvania, toSéllye . In 1600 he went toZnióvàralja , and in 1605, on the destruction of this place by the troops ofBocskay , to Olmütz, where he remained until his death.Works
During the siege of Znióvàralja his books and manuscripts, including the Hungarian
catechism which he composed in Rome, were lost; until his death, he was working on a translation of the New Testament, which was later used byGyörgy Káldy . Szántó must also be credited with the Hungarian portion of the dictionary ofCalepino .References
*Fraknói, "Egy magyar jezsuita a XVI. szàzadban" (A Hungarian Jesuit in the Sixteenth Century) in Katolikus Szemle (Budapest, 1888);
*Szinnyei, "Magyar irók" (Hungarian Authors), I;
*Steinhuber, "Gesch. des Collegium Germanicum-Hungarium", I (Freiburg, 1895).
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