Rorate Caeli

60 years ago


On December 26, 1948, Cardinal Mindszenty, Archbishop of Ersztergom and Primate of Hungary, was arrested by the Communist government of that nation. It was the beginning of a slow via crucis which would last until his last days. Pope Pius XII, who had named him Archbishop and created him Cardinal right after the war, condemned the action a few days later through his Letter Acerrimo Moerore ("To the Bishops of Hungary", January 2, 1949 - in Italian). 

For a contemporary account of the Mindszenty affair: Time magazine archives.