Vitus of Hungary
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(present-day Oradea, Romania)
Esztergom
(Hungary & the Order of Saint Augustine)
Blessed Vitus of Hungary, O.S.A. | |
|---|---|
| Confessor of the Faith | |
| Born | (?) Várad, Kingdom of Hungary (present-day Oradea, Romania) |
| Died | 1297 Esztergom |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church (Hungary & the Order of Saint Augustine) |
| Beatified | c. 1310 (?) by Gentile Portino da Montefiore (?) |
| Feast | 3 May |
Vitus of Hungary (Latin: Vitus Pannonius or Vitus de Hungaria, Hungarian: Magyarországi Vid; died 1297) was a Hungarian Augustinian friar in the 13th century, who was later beatified.
Contemporary sources have preserved neither his name nor activities. 18th-century historiographical works – Ungaricae sanctitatis indicia and the Bollandists' Acta Sanctorum Ungariae I. – state that Vitus was a member of the Augustinian Hermits.[1] It is possible he was born in Várad (present-day Oradea, Romania), as a 17th-century author Nicolaus Crusenius claimed.[2] According to his legend, Vitus lived in the Augustinian St. Anne monastery of Esztergom. He took an active part in the conversion of the pagan Cumans,[3] after papal legate Philip of Fermo persuaded the Hungarian elite to adopt the so-called Cuman laws in 1279.[4]
A non-authentic royal charter from 1278 refers to a certain frater Vitus, along with Augustinian provincial prior Elijah and abbots Nicholas of Esztergom and James of Mezősomlyó. In the document, Ladislaus IV of Hungary donated a mill to the abbey of Mezősomlyó (present-day Gătaia, Romania).[3] The document narrates that Vitus was present in the Battle on the Marchfeld took place in that year. The fact that he precedes the two abbots in the order of the Augustinians (without any title) in the document indicates his honorable status.[5]