Magyar Zoltán

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

APPARITIONS, VISIONS

The Virgin Mary

Stephen: The Virgin mary, in a halo of miraculous light, surrounded by holy virgins appears to saint’s father and announces the birth and glory of his son (vision of supreme chieftain Géza): Ransanus: IX.2-3.

Ladislas: The Virgin Mary appears above saint’s head with a miraculous halo of light (vision of an aged Tartar prisoner): GestaL:9.

Elizabeth: The Assumption of the Virgin Mary (St. Elizabeth’s vision): Werdena:17; Antoninus:III.XIX.11.; Temesvari:10.1.3.; Lskai:73.

Kinga: Foretells the hour of saint’s death (St. Kinga’s vision): KI I:63.

The Virgin Mary, St. Margaret, angels

Margaret: The Virgin Mary descends with a host of angels to the dying Margaret, places a golden wreath and crown irradiating divine light on her head and takes her to heaven on a ladder reaching to heaven (vision of a nun): MA I:II.3-4; Ransanus: XVI.15.

Jesus Christ

Elizabeth: Talks to saint, comforts saint, summons saint to himself (St. Elizabeth’s visions): EL IV:III.2 (secrecy); EL V:16 (secrecy); EL VII:4.IX, 7.IX; EL VIII:31-32, 38, Bonfini: 2.7.325; Temesvari: 98.24. Jesus Christ with hosts of saints (St. Elizabeth’s vision): EL VII:7.IX. Jesus Christ as He was flogged at the column (St. Elizabeth’s vision): Barletta.

Helen: Visits saint on the night before her death (vision of the Beatified Helen): HE:7.

The Eucharist

At the elevation of the Host drops of blood fall from the Host (St. Elizabeth’s vision): EL VII:3.III.

Angel

Stephen: An angel appears to saint’s father and announces the birth and glory of his son (vision of supreme chieftain Géza): ST I:5; ST III:5; Ransanus: IX.2-3; Bonfini:2.1.10; Temesvari: 52.34-34; VD: plate 1. An angel appears in dream to the pope and instructs him whom to give the crown (dream vision of pope Sylvester II): ST III:18-21; Temesvari: 52.29-30; EC:497-498; VD: plate 3.

Ladislas: Foretells victory and urges to attack (St. Ladislas’s vision): Hodinka: 464-465, 478-479, 478-479. Crowns prince Géza (St. Ladislas’s vision): CP:120; CH:111; Thuroczy: 79; Bonfini: 2.3.270; EC:398; CP: plate 83. Two angels threaten saint’s opponent with a fiery sword (king Solomon’s vision): CP:129; Bonfini: 2.4.70.-75.; EC:399; CP: p. 91.

Elizabeth: Angels visit saint, talk with her (St. Elizabeth’s visions): EL VII:7.IX (secrecy); Bonfini:2.7.325; EC:644. A miraculous old man appears to pilgrims going to her burial-place: EL III:15.

Helen: While saint is praying an angelic voice is heard above: HE:12. Angels visit saint, talk with her, leave a pleasant scent behind: HE:13, 15. Angels bring the Host to the saint directly from heaven: HE:12. Angels bring the saint a letter from heaven, ’her life’s sheet’: HE:13, 15. Angelic visitation: HE:6, 18.

Kinga: Beautiful, radiant youths provide wine for those in need: KI I:39, 60.

Margaret: Margaret is taken to heaven by angels (vision of a woman): Ransanus: XVI.15.

Angel, demon

Emeric: Angels take Emeric’s spirit to heaven, the devils try in vain to get hold of it (the vision of Eusebius of Caesarea): EM:13; ST III:39; AnjouLeg-EM: 2; Radocsay: 389 (the Mateóc altarpiece dedicated to Sts. Stephen and Emeric).

St. Stephen

Emeric: St. Stephen appears in a dream to the penitent sinner Conrad and directs him to Emeric’s burial-place (Conrad’s dream vision): EM: 17-18; Temesvari: 92.34; Anjou Leg-EM: plate 7.

St. Ladislas

Ladislas: Deceased saint helps the Hungarians to victory in battle (vision of an aged Tartar prisoner): GestaL:9.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

Elizabeth: Appears to the diseased praying to her: EL II:3, 51, 76, 98, 105; EL III:1, 2, 24; EL VII:8.XVI; EL VIII:45, 55, 57, 62. Saint’s confessor was sentenced to five years’ atonement in Purgatory, but due to the saint’s intercession he is freed from Purgatory (Conrad’s vision): EL VII:8.IX

Elizabeth of Töss: Appears to the ill St Elizabeth of Töss: TE:11.

St. Kinga

Kinga: Appears to a bishop and heals him: KI I:30. Appears to an ill person and foretells that he will be cured: KI II:12. Appears to the diseased and instructs them to visit her shrine: KI II:9, 19. Appears by the bedside of a prince’s wife and chases ghosts away: KI II:14.

St. Margaret

Margaret: Appears to diseased in sleep and heals them: MA I:V.5, 17, VI.16; MA II:II. 8, 32, 41, 56. A beautiful maiden appears to a captive nobleman, encourages him to trust in St. Elizabeth and Margaret; the captive is set free: MA I:V.12-13; MA II:II.68. A woman in her dream has a vision of Margaret’s ascension to heaven. The saint calls out to the woman: ’Come to my burial-place and you will partake of eternal grace!’: MA I:II.2.

St. Elizabeth of Töss

Elizabeth of Töss: Appears after her death to her stepmother: TE:13.

St. Stephen Martyr

Stephen: St. Stephen Martyr appears in dream to saint’s mother and announces her son’s birth and glory (Sarolt’s dream vision): ST III:8; Ransanus: IX.4; Bonfini: 2.1.30; Temesvari: 52.25; EC:494; CP: p. 37.

St. Paul

Kinga: Comes to fetch Kinga’s soul (vision of a nun): KI I:65.

St. George

Gerald, Stephen: St. George martyr appears in form of a lion to the commander of Stephen’s army and helps him with advice to win (the apparition to commander Csanád): GE II:23-24.

St. Francis of Assisi

Kinga: Appears before saint’s death (Kinga’s vision): KI I:39, 60.

St. Clara

Kinga: Appears on behalf of Kinga and tells a captive prince that he will be freed: KI I:29.

St. Ursula

Kinga: Comes with her holy companions to receive Kinga’s soul (vision of a nun): KI I:63.

St. Salome

Kinga: Appears before saint’s death (Kinga’s vision): KI I:63.

Sts. Gervasius and Prothasius

Kinga: Appear and defeat the Tartars: KI I:8.

Host of saints

Elizabeth: Jesus Christ with a host of saints (St. Elizabeth’s vision): EL VII:7.IX.

Margaret: A host of saints arrive in the convent to testify to Margaret’s holiness and her life’s saintliness (vision of a nun): MA I:II.18-119; MA II:II.13.

Voice from heaven

Emeric: A voice from heaven demands saint’s chastity: EM:8; Hymn IV:2-3.

Elizabeth: Voice from heaven talks to saint: EC:644. Voice from heaven heard above the head of the man sentenced to death: EL III:18.

Margaret: On Margaret’s death a voice from heaven is heard: ’The Lamb is dead’. (vision of a cleric): MA II:II.3.

Elizabeth of Töss: A voice instructs an ill person to go to St. Elizabeth of Töss to be healed: TE:10.

Bright star

Margaret: On Margaret’s death a bright star leaves the convent and ascends to heaven (vision of a girl): MA I:II.6-7.

A bishop

Elizabeth of Töss: A person resembling a bishop with a book in his hands steps to the altar, reads aloud the legend of St. Elizabeth of Töss and testifies to its truth from the first word to the very last (vision of a nun): TE:16.

Dead monk

Margaret: A dead monk appears to the prior of the monastery in his sleep. He announces that he is suffering in Purgatory and asks the monks to pray for his soul; he tells the prior that Margaret went up to heaven and sits there clad in beautiful, golden-coloured garments: MA I:II.8.

Saint’s deceased mother

Elizabeth: Queen Gertrudis (St. Elizabeth’s mother; she asks saint to pray for her; on another occasion she thanks saint for having liberated her with her prayers – St. Elizabeth’s visions): EL VII:6.X; Laskai:3.

A sinner

Elizabeth of Töss: A person who insulted the saint appears to her after his death and asks saint to pray for his soul because he is suffering in Purgatory: TE:8, 8.

Miraculous animals

Ladislas: Miraculous white weasel/ermine (seen by St. Ladislas and prince Géza): CP:121; CH:111; Thuroczy: 79; Bonfini: 2.3.280-285. Miraculous stag with lighted candles on the tips of its antlers (seen by St. Ladislas and king Géza): CP:124; CH:124; Thuroczy: 80; Bonfini: 2.4.5-10; CP: p. 87.

Lice and vermin

Margaret: Margaret’s lice and vermin are transformed in pearls (vision of a Franciscan monk): MA I:I.68.

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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