Jusztinián György Serédi

infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Jusztinian Györg Cardinal Seredi
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=Esztergom|

Jusztinián György Cardinal Serédi OSB (23 April 1884 - 29 March 1945) was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and was former Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and Primate of Hungary.

Jusztinián György Serédi was born in Deáki, Hungary (now Diakovce,Slovakia). He joined the order of Saint Benedict on 6 August 1901, Pannonhalma. He was professed on July 10 1905. He was ordained on 14 July 1908. He was a member of the community of the abbey of Pannonhalma and faculty member of the International College S. Anselmo, Rome. He was procurator general of his order in Rome.

Episcopate

Pope Pius XI appointed him Archbishop of Esztergom on 30 November 1927. He was consecrated on 8 January 1928 in the Sistine chapel by Pope Pius.

Cardinalate

He was created and proclaimed Cardinal-Priest of "Ss. Andrea e Gregorio al Monte Celio" in the consistory of December 19 1927. He was a senator of Hungary in the parliament by his own right. He participated in the conclave of 1939 that elected Pope Pius XII. He died in 1945 while still in office.

Opposition to Nazis

In 1934 Seredi issued a statement saying no Catholic priest could support the principles of Nazism. In 1938 Seredi hosted an Ecumenical Congress along with the future Pius XII. [cite news
author=
title=Eucharist in Budapest
date=1938-06-06
work=Time Magazine
url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,771110,00.html
accessdate=2008-08-10]

In the spring of 1944 he issued a statement condemning the attacks on, discrimination against and deportation of the Jews on racial grounds. [ [http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/facts/fm0015.html Goldhagen v. Pius XII ] at www.catholiceducation.org] Seredi also worked to try to get Catholic Jews exempted from deportation and death, but was only able to get the rule to apply to those who were priests, monks or nuns. [Bartov, Omer. "In God's Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century". p. 233-234] In April of 1944 Seredi protested the treatment of Jews by the Nazis in Hungary. ["Cardinal Appeals for Jews" in "New York Times", April 27th, 1944, p. 5]

Seredi's leading the Hungarian church in opposition to the attack on the Jews lead to the arrest of two bishops and several priests and nuns. One of the bishops arrested by the Nazis was József Mindszenty. [ [http://www.losangelesmission.com/ed/articles/2003/0603mm.htm Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission | June 2003 | Articles | It Was Cold, by Martin Mazloom ] at www.losangelesmission.com]

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