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The saints

St. Stephen of Hungary

The first king of Hungary, who built his people into a Christian nation and buried his only son.

Feast: 16 August · 975 to 1038 · The Middle Ages · Esztergom, Hungary

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Painting of St. Stephen of Hungary crowned, holding an orb and a double cross.

Unknown author, 1930. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. Stephen of Hungary

Esztergom, 1000

Stephen was the son of a Magyar chief and was baptized as a boy.1

He was crowned the first king of Hungary, with a crown sent by the pope.1

He set up dioceses, built churches and gave laws to his people.

Patron of Hungary1; bricklayers1

01St. Stephen of Hungary

His son

His son Emeric, whom he had trained to succeed him, died in a hunting accident.1

Stephen’s last years were full of grief and illness, and fights over who would follow him.1

Live it this week

Write down what you want your kids to know

Stephen wrote his son a book of advice on ruling well. Write a letter this week to your children (or godchildren) about the faith and life lessons you most want them to keep.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Stephen of Hungary”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.