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The Magyars |
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The Magyars |
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On a visit to Assumption Church near Buffalo State College, I noticed a small red brick church farther up on Grant Street. The plaque next to the entrance caught my eye. Not recognizing the language but knowing that the church's name is Saint Elizabeth's, I gathered "Szent Erzsebet Rom. Kath. Magyar Templom" must mean Saint Elizabeth Roman Catholic "Magyar" Temple. I said to myself, what's a Magyar? |
Who are the Magyars?
The Magyars trace their very early roots to the region of eastern Europe between the Baltic Sea and the Ural mountains. In the years following the early days of Christianity the Magyars migrated to the south and then to the west before settling in what is now known as Hungary. About the time the Vikings were raiding England, seven hoards (tribes) of Magyars were also feared raiders of Europe.
In the year 1000, St. Stephen united the seven Magyar tribes and applied to the pope in Rome for recognition as the King of Hungary. Pope Silvester II granted his request, thus marking the formal conversion of Hungarians into Christianity.
The years 1880-1920 marked the peak period of Magyar immigration to America. Most of the immigrants moved to northeastern cities such as Buffalo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, to work in the steel mills and coal mines. Bishop Horstmann of Cleveland recognized the need for a religious leader who shared the Magyar culture and so recruited a Father Charles Böhm from Hungary. Father Böhm went on to establish many of the Magyar Roman Catholic churches in America including Assumption Church in Lackawana (1918).
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| In Western New York, the Magyars settled in Black Rock, Kaisertown and Lackawanna, where they established these seven churches: |
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St. Elizabeth's, 986 Grant Street (1906) Reformed in US Magyar, Clinton and Pulaski Streets (1915) Lutheran United Hungarian (Our Saviour), 1037 Grant Street (1917) Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 80 Steelawanna, Lackawanna (1918) Baptist First Hungarian, 350 Austin Street Presbyterian Magyar, Ridge Road, Lackawanna West Side Hungarian Reformed Church, 700 Tonawanda St. (1927) |
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Other Buffalo Hungarian links
The Budapest String Quartet (coming soon)
Graycliff and the Hungarian Piarist fathers
Hungarian Medical Association of America
The American Hungarian National Federation
(founded in Buffalo on May 29, 1929)
Bibliography
The WebChronology Project, a program of the History Department at North Park University, Chicago Il.
Corvinus Library Hungarian History
Hungarian Catholics in America
(includes the story of Father Charles Böhm, refer to the middle of the article)
Hungarian Catholic Church - Hungarian Saints - St. Stephen
(c)2001 by Joe Hayden Hamburg, New York