(ANS – Vatican City) – Pope Francis on May 15
approved the beatification of the Servant of God Stephen Sandor, a lay (coadjutor)
brother of the Society of St. Francis de Sales. Back in March, the Congregation
for Saints’ Causes recognized officially that he had been executed in hatred of
the Faith, i.e., he is a martyr.
The rite of beatification will take place in Budapest, Hungary, on
Saturday, October 19, 2013, where Bro. Stephen lived as a Salesian and where he
was hanged on June 8, 1953, by the Communist rulers of the country. The Holy
Father will be represented at the beatification ceremony by Cardinal Angelo
Amato, SDB, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes.
Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, Salesian postulator general, said that Bro.
Stephen was sent by the Holy Spirit to the young people of Hungary to bear
witness to the Gospel according to the spirit of Don Bosco. He remained with
them and kept guard over them even to the point of giving his life as a martyr.
He offered his life for the salvation of the young and in defense of the rights
of the Church.
“We thank God for this special gift to the Church and to the
Salesian Family in this Year of Faith as we prepare for the bicentennial of Don
Bosco’s birth,” said Fr. Cameroni, as soon as he heard the news. “This
event is a moment of joy especially for the Salesian Congregation in Hungary,
which this year celebrates 100 years of Salesian presence in the country. We
receive this news also as a gift of Mary Help of Christians as we begin the novena
in her honor. Stephen Sandor had great devotion to the Mother of God, and he
spread this devotion among the young with great enthusiasm and fervor.”
Bro. Sandor, born in 1914 at Szolnok, Hungary, came to know about
Don Bosco through the Salesian Bulletin
and became an aspirant in 1936. He learned the printer’s craft and made his
first profession on Sept. 8, 1940, as a coadjutor brother. In Budapest he
taught printing, assisted at the youth center, and promoted the Young Catholic
Workers. At the end of World War II, he began working for the material and
moral rebuilding of society by gathering up poor youths and teaching them a
trade.
When the Communist regime began to persecute the Church and
disbanded religious organizations, Bro. Sandor continued working underground.
He found employment in a detergent factory and fearlessly but kept up his clandestine
youth apostolate. In July 1952 he was arrested; his confreres never saw him
again. Only after the fall of the Communists did documents come to light
showing that he had been hanged in 1953.
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| Bro. Stephen Sandor, at the right, with altar boys at the Salesian school in Budapest |
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