László Batthyány-Strattmann
Encyclopedia
The Blessed
Prince László Batthyány-Strattmann de Németújvár, in German
Ladislaus Fürst Batthyány-Strattmann von Güssing, (born October 28, 1870 in Dunakiliti
, Austria-Hungary
, died January 22, 1931 in Vienna
, Austria
) was a Hungarian aristocrat
and physician
. The devout Catholic became known as the "doctor of the poor". He was beatified
by the Roman Catholic Church
in 2003.
László Batthyány was born into of a very old Hungarian aristocratic family
. His childhood was marred by the fact that his father left his family and converted to Protestantism
in order to marry another woman. Ladislaus' mother died when he was only twelve years old.
According to the will of his father, he first prepared himself to care for the vast property of the Batthyánys. He first studied agriculture
in Vienna, later also a great number of other subjects, including chemistry
, philosophy
and music
. In this chaotic period in his life, he also fathered an illegitimate daughter.
1896 and finished his studies 1900. This period was also accompanied by a renewal of his religious faith, which made him an especially devout Roman Catholic. At this time, he met Countess Maria Theresia Coreth zu Coredo und Starkenberg ("Misl"), whom he married on November 10, 1898 in Vienna. 13 children were born of this marriage which was reputed to have been exceptionally happy and harmonious.
(today Austria
, then Köpcsény in Hungary
). He had trained as a general practictioner, but he soon specialized in surgery
and later, in ophthalmology
.
In 1915, Batthyány moved to the castle of Körmend
in Hungary with his family, which he had inherited upon the death of his uncle, together with the title "Prince" (German: Fürst/Hungarian: herceg) and the additional last name "Strattmann". Here, he practised as a devoted doctor, becoming especially famous for treating poor patients for free, which gained him the name "doctor of the poor". Batthyány even turned a wing of the castle into a hospital for ophthalmology. He and his family were also famous for their devout religious life.
Batthyány-Strattmann's harmonious family life was nevertheless not fully devoid of tragedy: his oldest son Ödön (Edmund) died in 1921 at the age of only 21 due to a severe sickness of the bowels.
of the bladder
and admitted to the Löw sanatorium
in Vienna. After fourteen months of illness, he died in January 1931.
of Vienna (Austria) and the bishop
of Szombathely
(Hungary), in 1944. The process became forgotten for some time afterwards, before it was taken up again in 1982 due to the initiative of the bishop of Eisenstadt
(Austria), Stefan László. On July 11, 1992, László Batthyány-Strattmann was declared a Venerable
- a necessary step for beatification. He was beatified on March 23, 2003 by Pope
John Paul II. Five years later, on March 23, 2008, the 5th anniversary of his beatification, the Dr. Ladislaus Batthyány-Strattmann confraternity of prayer for the canonization of the poor’s doctor was invested by the archbishop of Vienna Christoph Cardinal Schönborn as a private association being entitled under the justification of canon law.
This group is a community of catholic men and women, who aim to orient themselves on a Christian way of life in the Catholic Church. Origin of this ambition is the blessed Ladislaus Batthyány-Strattmann, whose saintly conduct and commitment to his religious belief, family and profession as a doctor for the poor even today can be a strong appeal to our own life.
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
Prince László Batthyány-Strattmann de Németújvár, in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Ladislaus Fürst Batthyány-Strattmann von Güssing, (born October 28, 1870 in Dunakiliti
Dunakiliti
Dunakiliti is a village in Győr-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.- External links :*...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, died January 22, 1931 in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
) was a Hungarian aristocrat
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
and physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. The devout Catholic became known as the "doctor of the poor". He was beatified
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
by the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in 2003.
Early life
CountCount
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
László Batthyány was born into of a very old Hungarian aristocratic family
Batthyány
Batthyány is the name of an old distinguished Hungarian Magnate family. The members of this family bear the title count or countess respectively prince or princess Batthyány von Német-Ujvár...
. His childhood was marred by the fact that his father left his family and converted to Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
in order to marry another woman. Ladislaus' mother died when he was only twelve years old.
According to the will of his father, he first prepared himself to care for the vast property of the Batthyánys. He first studied agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
in Vienna, later also a great number of other subjects, including chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
. In this chaotic period in his life, he also fathered an illegitimate daughter.
Studies and marriage
His life dramatically changed for the better when he discovered his true professional vocation as a doctor. He became a student of medicineMedicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
1896 and finished his studies 1900. This period was also accompanied by a renewal of his religious faith, which made him an especially devout Roman Catholic. At this time, he met Countess Maria Theresia Coreth zu Coredo und Starkenberg ("Misl"), whom he married on November 10, 1898 in Vienna. 13 children were born of this marriage which was reputed to have been exceptionally happy and harmonious.
Serving as a doctor
Batthyány opened a private hospital in KittseeKittsee
Kittsee is an Austrian municipality in the District of Neusiedl am See, Burgenland.- Geography :Kittsee lies 32 km northeast from Neusiedl am See, on the Slovak border opposite Bratislava, with crossings into the Bratislava suburb of Jarovce...
(today Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, then Köpcsény in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
). He had trained as a general practictioner, but he soon specialized in surgery
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
and later, in ophthalmology
Ophthalmology
Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems...
.
In 1915, Batthyány moved to the castle of Körmend
Körmend
-Places of interest:The town is especially well known for its castle which used to belong to the Batthyany family, one of the most important aristocrat families of Hungary. Blessed Ladislaus Batthyány-Strattmann , a famous ophthalmologist who was beatified by the Catholic Church, lived in the...
in Hungary with his family, which he had inherited upon the death of his uncle, together with the title "Prince" (German: Fürst/Hungarian: herceg) and the additional last name "Strattmann". Here, he practised as a devoted doctor, becoming especially famous for treating poor patients for free, which gained him the name "doctor of the poor". Batthyány even turned a wing of the castle into a hospital for ophthalmology. He and his family were also famous for their devout religious life.
Batthyány-Strattmann's harmonious family life was nevertheless not fully devoid of tragedy: his oldest son Ödön (Edmund) died in 1921 at the age of only 21 due to a severe sickness of the bowels.
Death
At the age of 60, Batthyány was diagnosed with cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
of the bladder
Urinary bladder
The urinary bladder is the organ that collects urine excreted by the kidneys before disposal by urination. A hollow muscular, and distensible organ, the bladder sits on the pelvic floor...
and admitted to the Löw sanatorium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
in Vienna. After fourteen months of illness, he died in January 1931.
Beatification
Batthyány-Strattmann had been widely regarded as a saintly man even in his lifetime. The beatification process was begun as a joint initiative of the archbishopArchbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of Vienna (Austria) and the bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Szombathely
Szombathely
Szombathely is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas county in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria...
(Hungary), in 1944. The process became forgotten for some time afterwards, before it was taken up again in 1982 due to the initiative of the bishop of Eisenstadt
Eisenstadt
- Politics :The current mayor of Eisenstadt is Andrea Fraunschiel ÖVP.The district council is composed as follows :* ÖVP: 17 seats* SPÖ: 8 seats* Austrian Green Party: 2 seats* FPÖ: 2 seats- Castles and palaces :...
(Austria), Stefan László. On July 11, 1992, László Batthyány-Strattmann was declared a Venerable
Venerable
The Venerable is used as a style or epithet in several Christian churches. It is also the common English-language translation of a number of Buddhist titles.-Roman Catholic:...
- a necessary step for beatification. He was beatified on March 23, 2003 by Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
John Paul II. Five years later, on March 23, 2008, the 5th anniversary of his beatification, the Dr. Ladislaus Batthyány-Strattmann confraternity of prayer for the canonization of the poor’s doctor was invested by the archbishop of Vienna Christoph Cardinal Schönborn as a private association being entitled under the justification of canon law.
This group is a community of catholic men and women, who aim to orient themselves on a Christian way of life in the Catholic Church. Origin of this ambition is the blessed Ladislaus Batthyány-Strattmann, whose saintly conduct and commitment to his religious belief, family and profession as a doctor for the poor even today can be a strong appeal to our own life.
Literature
- Josef Dirnbeck: Geöffnete Augen. Ladislaus Batthyány-Strattmann und sein Leben als "Arzt der Armen". Güssing 2003. ISBN 3950098410
- Rudolf Kroyer: Ladislaus Batthyány-Strattmann - EIn Leben im Dienste Gottes und der Menschen. Eisenstadt 1986/1999
- Erzsébet Pálffy-Batthyány: Batthyány-Strattmann László ferences herceg. Budapest 1931
- Mária Puskely: Dr. Batthyány-Strattmann László. 1870-1931. Dokumentált életrajz. Budapest 2001