Religious freedom in Torda and Catholic autonomy

In Act I of 2018, the Hungarian Parliament declared 13 January as the Day of Religious Freedom to commemorate the fact that the religious resolution of the Diet of Torda, held between 6 and 13 January 1568, was the first in the world to enshrine in law the right to freedom of conscience and religion and the right to freely choose a pastor for congregations. This law established the status of the four Transylvanian religious denominations (Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Reformed, Unitarian), which by then had become somewhat separate, as the established religion (religio recepta).

Despite the above, the vast Transylvanian diocese, which in the first half of the 16th century still had 24 seat chapters, 13 archdiocesan districts, more than 600 parishes and 50 monasteries, was by the end of the century completely destroyed in its institutional structure. The majority in the Diet that emerged as a result of the Reformation ‘corrected’ the Catholic bishop from the principality for 150 years, and secularised the monasteries’ property. The members of the chantry, monks and clergy in general either converted to Protestantism or were forced to leave the land of Transylvania. This process was not altered to the benefit of Catholics by the proclamation of religious freedom. Thus, Catholicism survived only in Szeklerland, without any higher leadership, organised in only about 30 parishes and the Franciscan monastery of Csíksomlyó.

It was in this situation of necessity that a unique form of subsidiary Catholic autonomy, or synodal form of church government, the Roman Catholic See of Transylvania, was created. The members of the National Assembly who remained of the Catholic faith and the few clerics from Szeklerland, calling themselves the Catholic See, formed a community and met after the assemblies to defend the Catholic faith. In this way, they sought to represent the interests of the faithful who remained Catholic.

The historical events we are about to describe testify to the importance of the simultaneous efforts to create the legal conditions for peaceful coexistence and to promote the interests of the Churches through representation.

Dr. Holló László

https://dunapartiiskola.sapientia.hu/szabadegyetem/tordai-vallasszabadsag-es-katolikus-autonomia