István Szántó

On finishing his studies in Vienna, he attached himself to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Győr, and in 1560 was sent by his bishop to the German 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 Nagyszombat (now Trnava, Slovakia). The succeeding years were spent at the universities of Vienna and Graz, where he lectured on philosophy. In 1568 Szántó strove to found a Catholic mission for Transylvania, 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 near Santo Stefano Rotondo on the Coelian was to serve for this purpose; the deed of foundation was approved by Pope 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 Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania); and later at Várad (now Oradea, Romania). At this time occurred his literary polemics with the Protestant preacher Peter Beregszászi, against which he wrote his Epistola apologetica.

In 1585, Szántó proceeded to Gyulafehérvár (now Alba Iulia, Romania), and thence, on the expulsion of the Jesuit order from Transylvania, to Vágsellye (today Šaľa, Slovakia). In 1600 he went to Znióvàralja (now Kláštor pod Znievom, Slovakia), and in 1605, on the destruction of this place by the troops of Bocskay, to Olmütz, where he remained until his death.

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 by György Káldy. Szántó must also be credited with the Hungarian portion of the dictionary of Calepino.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Stephan Szántó (Arator)". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites:
  • 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).