Diocese of Györ

(German RAAB; Latin JAURINENSIS).

A Hungarian see, suffragan to the Archdiocese of Gran. After the county of Vas and parts of the county of Veszprém had been taken in 1777 to form the Diocese of Szombathely, the Diocese of Györ assumed its present proportions; it comprises the Counties of Moson and Sopron, the greater portion of the County of Györ, and a part of the County of Komárom. There are two cathedral chapters, the chapter of Györ with 14 canonicates, and that of Sopron with 5; there are also 8 titular abbacies, 6 provostships, and 4 titular provostships. The diocese is divided into 7 archdeaconries and 22 vice-archdeaconries, and contains 239 parishes. The clergy number 379, of whom 315 are engaged in parish work; 52 patrons exercise the right of presentation to 224 benefices. The diocese has two seminaries attended (1908) by 102 students, and 48 monasteries with 630 religious. The total population is 563,093, the Catholics slumbering 451,150. The diocese was founded by King St. Stephen, the date being, as believed, 1001. Modestus (1019-37) is said to have been the first bishop. Arduin or Hartvik (1097-1103) wrote the life of St. Stephen. Thomas Bakocz of Erdod, later primate of Hungary and cardinal, occupied the See of Györ from 1489 to 1494. Georg Draskovich (d. 1587), together with the chapter, fled before the Turks, who seized part of the diocese but held it only for a short time. After the reconquest of Györ Martinus Pethe (1598-1605), who restored the cathedral, was appointed bishop. In 1608 Demetrius Náprágyi (1607-19) acquired the reliquary, which up to that time had been preserved at Grosswardein containing the skull of King St. Ladislaus. Georg Draskovich (1635-50) was one of the most zealous champions of the Counter-Reformation. Among the more recent bishops of Györ Johann Simor (1857-67) later Archbishop of Gran, was the most illustrious. The present bishop is Count Nikolaus Szechenyi.

KABOLYI, Speculum ecclesias Jaurinensis (1797); PRAY, Specimen Hierarchiae Hungaricae (1776-79); Das katholische Urgarn (Budapest, 1902); Die Komitate und Stadte Ungarns: Komitat Györ (Budapest, 1908); the last two works are is Hungarian.

A. ALDÁSY