Born 126 years ago, on August 28, 1896, in Csíkszentdomokos (now Sândominic, Romania), Áron Márton, Roman Catholic Bishop of Transylvania between 1939 and 1980, was one of the most prominent figures of Transylvanian Hungarian public life in the last century, who consistently stood up against all dictatorships.
He was the third child of a Székely peasant family. He graduated from high school in Gyulafehervár in 1915, and three days later he received his military draft. During the First World War, he served as a lieutenant at Doberdo and was wounded three times in the Ojtozi Strait.
After his discharge, he was a farmer and clerk, and in 1920 he enrolled at the Gyulafehérvár Priests’ College. He was ordained a priest in 1924, after which he became a chaplain and a theology teacher; from 1930, he served as a court chaplain and bishop’s archivist, and from 1932, he was a bishop’s secretary.
In 1934, he became the executive director of the Transylvanian Roman Catholic People’s Association and was also the founder and editor of the educational journal Transylvanian School, playing a significant role in the establishment of a system of education that went beyond the church. From 1937 he held the title of canon and from 1938 parish priest of Cluj.
Pope Pius XI appointed him Bishop of Gyulafehérvár in December 1938, and he was consecrated in February of the following year. He chose as his motto, to which he remained faithful throughout his life, „Non recuso laborem – I do not shrink from work.”
In the difficult decades that followed, the church under his leadership was a steady support for the Hungarians in Transylvania. Áron Márton was a charismatic personality, his words and deeds radiated inner strength and rock-solid conviction of faith.
When the Second Vienna Award of August 30, 1940, which returned part of Transylvania, split his diocese in two, he stayed in Gyulafehérvár, which still belonged to Romania, so that his faithful who were stranded there would not be left without a pastor.
In May 1944, he spoke out against the deportation of Hungarian Jews, which had begun at that time.
The 1947 Paris Peace Treaty, which ended World War II, restored the Trianon borders. The bishop protested strongly when the Bucharest government terminated the concordat with the Vatican in 1948 and nationalized church schools. He spoke out for the rights of the Hungarian minority and openly opposed the Communist regime.
He was openly attacked by the state authorities and placed under constant surveillance. He solemnly marched on horseback to the 1949 Csíksomlyó Pilgrimage, and his speech was heard by hundreds of thousands of people.
Two weeks later, he was arrested, news of his death spread, and his whereabouts were unknown even to the Vatican. Still, the Pope made him an archbishop emeritus on the 25th anniversary of his ordination. He was imprisoned for two years, and in 1951 he was sentenced after a show trial to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and life imprisonment for treason by a military court in Bucharest.
Under foreign pressure, he was released in 1955 and resumed the leadership of his diocese. His missionary journeys became a veritable triumphal procession, announcing his agenda in his circular letters and sermons. The authorities did not look kindly on this, and in 1957 he was placed under house arrest, allowed only to go from the bishop’s palace to the cathedral; he was allowed to receive visitors and ordain priests.
Marton was released from his „palace arrest” only in 1967. He was allowed to travel to the Vatican Synod of Bishops in 1969 and was received by Pope Paul VI in 1971. He refused to make any compromises with the Romanian state ecclesiastical leadership, lest the negotiations give the impression to the world that the country had religious freedom.
The elderly, ailing prelate, who had been a prisoner for most of his episcopate (after the Second Vienna Award, imprisoned in Gyulafehérvár during the establishment of the communist regime, and for a decade in his episcopal residence), after the restoration of his civil rights, became a prisoner of his own weakness.
From 1976, he offered his resignation to the Vatican on several occasions, but it was only accepted by Pope John Paul II on April 2, 1980. Áron Marton died six months later, on September 29, of kidney cancer, and his body was laid to rest in the bishop’s crypt.
At his funeral, he was eulogized as follows:
„He has gone forth like a comet to sensitize the people to the truth, to the understanding and appreciation of the value of life, through the appreciation of God and faith.”
In 1999, the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations to Áron Marton.
It was the first time that the award was given to someone not for their actions, for their deeds in saving the persecuted during the Holocaust, but for their moral stand and the power of their words.
The memory of the bishop is preserved in many places in Transylvania; schools, institutions, streets and associations are named after him. His first statue was unveiled in 1995 in Székelyudvarhely. His memorial museum is located in his native village of Csíkszentdomokos, his memorial room is in the Bishop’s Palace in Gyulafehervár, and his intellectual legacy was published between 2005 and 2014. His canonization is in progress.
The Hungarian government has declared 2016 as the Year of Áron Márton, with conferences, traveling exhibitions and pilgrimages to commemorate his life. His memorial was unveiled in Csíkszereda on Pentecost, and participants at the 2016 World Catholic Youth Meeting in Krakow were also able to learn about his life and work.
