Magyar Zoltán

Legends of Early Hungarian Saints: type- and motif-index

SIGNS OF SANCTITY

Extraordinary physique

Stephen: Saint is taller than his men and subjects: Hymn I:2.6.

Ladislas: Saint is more than six inches taller than all his subjects: LA:3; Madas:1.1.3.; 8.1.; 10.1.1.; Temesvari:14.2.3.; Laskai:48.2.1.; 49.2.1.; Hymn II: 12th stanza.

Irene: Exceptional beauty: PE I:2.

Elizabeth: When crying, saint’s face is not disfigured: EL IV:IV.29; EL V:29.

Kinga: Exceptional beauty: KI I:3. Saint is born in perfect cleanliness, needs no bath: KI I:4.

Margaret: Exceptional beauty: MA II:I.19.

Elizabeth of Töss: Exceptional beauty: TE:4.

Luminous apparitions connected to saint

Emeric: During saint’s prayer light floods the church: EM:8.

Ladislas: Saint’s figure is surrounded by intense light during prayer: EC:403.

Elizabeth: During prayer saint is surrounded by a halo of divine light: EL VII:2.XI.

During prayer saint’s face is marvellously radiant, beams of light radiate from her eyes: EL I:3; EL VIII:33; Temesvari: 98.18.

Helen: The chapel where saint is praying is flooded with divine light: HE:18. When saint enters the chapel the candles begin to burn: HE:5, 6, 6, 6. The candles that blaze up when saint enters the chapel burn for two days and are not consumed: HE:6.

Kinga: Saint is surrounded by divine halo of light during prayer: KI I: 20, 32, 39. Heavenly sign (halo of divine light) testifies to saint’s innocence when she is unjustly accused of lechery: KI I:39.

Margaret: When saint takes her clothes off for flagellation the house is flooded with light. When flagellation ceases the light disappears: MA I:I.105, VI.13; MA II:I.14. During saint’s nightly devotions a bright flame is seen above her head: MA I:I.113, VI.14; MA II:I.39.

St. Elizabeth of Töss: The night-light goes out, then reawakens by itself at saint’s bedside: TE:12.

The saint visited by angels

Andrew: Angel (radiant, angelic-faced youth) comes to aid the saint who fainted and takes him back to his hut on his carriage: AN:4.

Stephen: During saint’s devotions angels visit him: Temesvári: 52.36

Ladislas: Vision of king Solomon. When they prepare to combat in disguise, Solomon sees one/two angels above the head/on the shoulders of Ladislas, who threaten him with their fiery swords (Solomon flees): CP:129; Madas:7.1.1.; Bonfini: 2.4.70-75; EC:399; CP: plate 91.

Helen: While saint is praying an angelic voice is heard above: HE:12. The letter from heaven brought by angels to the saint cannot be taken out of her hands: HE:15.

Angelic coronation

Stephen: Saint is crowned by angels: Thuroczy: the woodcut of the chronicle’s Augsburg edition; Kerny: 9, 13 (iconography: coloured woodcut; the image on the seal of Simon Erdődy, bishop of Zagreb).

Ladislas: Ladislas’s vision: an angel places the crown on his elder brother’s head: CP:120; CH:111; Thuroczy: 79; Bonfini: 2.3.270; EC:398; CP: p. 83. Angel crowns saint: Romer: 22, 78; MagyarZ II: title page illustration; MagyarZ III: XVIII., XXIII (murals). Two angels place crown on saint’s head: CP: p. 92.; LaszloGy: plates 125-126, 130-131 (murals).

Levitation

Stephen: During prayer saint’s body hovers above ground: ST III:37; Bonfini: 2.1.310.; EC:495. During prayer saint’s body and tent hovers above ground: ST III: 37, Bonfini: 2.1.310; Temesvári: 52.36.

Ladislas: Saint hovers above ground during prayer: LA:6; Madas:7.1.1.; 10.1.1.; Temesvari:14.2.3.; Laskai:48.2.2.; 49.2.1.; 50.2.2.; Bonfini: 2.4.294; AnjouLeg-LA: plate 16. Saint is lifted into the air by angels during prayer: EC:403.

Margaret: Saint is seen several times (when administered the sacrament, on religious festivals) hovering several inches above ground: MA II:I.10, 35.

Elizabeth of Töss: Saint levitates above ground during prayer: TE:8, 13.

Stigmata

Helen: Saint wears Christ’s wounds on both her hands and feet and on her chest: HE:1. A golden hair grows out of the wound on saint’s right hand: HE:1. A miraculous lily with golden stem grows out of the wound on saint’s right hand: HE:1. Miraculous white liles grow on saint’s chest and stomach: HE:19. During saint’s prayer her hand is marked with the sign of the cross which remains visible for a long time: HE:18.

Margaret: Stigmata. During her devotions saint receives the stigmata (Christ’s wounds) on the palms of both hands: MA III:26.

Metamorphosis

Kinga: In saint’s mouth game turns into fish: KI I:12, 13. In saint’s mouth wine turns into water: KI I:12.

Margaret: Margaret’s lice and vermin are transformed into pearls: MA I:I.68.

Saint tames wild beasts

Gerald: A hind with its fawn sits by saint in the forest: GE II:18. A fawn follows saint everywhere, like a pet: GE:18. A wounded wolf enters saint’s hut and remains by him: GE II:19.

Saint is invulnerable to the enemy

Ladislas: Ladislas is invulnerable to the enemy (to weapons): LaszloGy: plates 37-40, 50-52, 68-69, 70-71 (murals); MagyarZ: 7 (mural).

Traces left in rock

Ladislas: Saint’s traces are preserved in rock (his footprints, the mark of his spear, the mark of his shield and helmet which he placed on earth): Temesvári: 17.1.3.; EC: 404; Moldva I:50.

Saint’s tears make holes in marble: Madas:6.1.1.; Mazal-Vizkelety: 94; Hodinka: 464-465, 478-479, 478-479.

The seven holy kisses

Emeric: Upon arrival to the monastery from among all monks saint greets only the saintly Maurus with seven kisses: EM: 4-6; Bonfini: 2.1.185-190; EC: 616; AnjouLeg-EM: 2.

International reputation

Ladislas: Saint is appointed commander of the first crusade (his death prevents him from leading the crusaders to the Holy Land): LA:9; CP: 139; Madas:7.1.1.; 10.1.1.; Temesvari:14.2.3.; Laskai:48.2.2.; 49.2.1.; 50.2.2.; Thuroczy: 86; Bonfini: 2.4.255; EC:401; CP: plate 99.

Devotional objects manifest their confidence in saint

Helen: All relics from the altar flock to saint: HE:12. The wooden crucifix descends from the altar and stops before saint: HE:4. The Host comes to saint directly from heaven when she is administered the sacrament: HE:2. During mass the statue of the Virgin and Christ descends from the altar and is seen by the saint, then in saint’s hands: HE:9. The metallic crucifix descends from the altar and flies into saint’s hands, returning only hours later; no one can take it out of saint’s hands: HE:3.

Kinga: Saint opens the church portals without key so that she may enter with her suite: KI I:6, 9. The holy icon talks to saint while she is praying in front of it: KI I:21, 22, 32.

Other signs of sanctity

Kinga: Wherever saint walks, bloodstains mark her way: KI I:6. Saint’s kiss has healing powers: KI I:7, 28.

Margaret: Saint’s scapulary in which she carries meat to the kitchen remains unsoiled: MA I:I.85.

St. Elizabeth of Töss: A glass pearl falls into the cups held in the nuns’ hands at every word during prayer. Into Elizabeth’s cup two pearls fall at every word: TE:8.

Legends of Early Hungarian Saints: type- and motif-index

Tartalomjegyzék

Kiadó: Akadémiai Kiadó

Online megjelenés éve: 2026

ISBN: 978 963 664 185 6

Művelődéstörténet Idegen nyelvű

The work of folklorist Zoltán Magyar throws light on a relatively little-known segment of the dynastyc cult of saints in Central European cultural history. The hagiographies and legends written on different members of the Árpadian dynasty, ruling in Hungary between the 11th and 13th centuries, and their contemporaries endowed with the aura of sanctity, occur not only in their medieval Hungarian legendry but have also become part of the liturgical tradition and the cult of saints on German, Polish and Byzantine soil. The thematic and generic variety of this legendry and its many folkloric implications show close parallels with another major work of medieval European hagiography: the legends of early Irish saints. The type- and motif-index and generatic catalogue compiled by Zoltán Magyar orders the epic tradition, based on 11rh-16th century written sources, of twelve Hungarian royal saints who have become the subject of legends shortly after their death. Beside classification according to the type of legendd heroes and themes, the book also contains an analysis of the biographical data, of the historical sources and of the primary types and motifs of hagiographies.

Hivatkozás: https://mersz.hu/magyar-early-hungarian-saints-type-and-motif-index//

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