Four hundred years ago, in 1626, the first complete Catholic Bible in Hungarian was printed. The translator, György Káldi, was a Jesuit monk who translated the Scriptures from Latin into Hungarian.
György Káldi was born in Nagyszombat (today Trnava, Slovakia) between 1570 and 1573. After completing his elementary education, he was able to continue his studies with the help of the provost of Esztergom. In 1595, he studied theology in Vienna. After his ordination as a priest, he went to Rome, where he joined the Jesuit order.
After 1600, the Jesuit order sent György Káldi to Transylvania. In Gyulafehérvár (today Alba Iulia, Romania) he began his ambitious Bible translation project in 1605. He translated the New Testament first, followed by the Old Testament. He completed the translation by 1607, but continued revising and editing the text for almost two more decades.
The printing and publication of the completed translation were supported by Gábor Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania, and Péter Pázmány, Archbishop of Esztergom. Káldi’s Bible translation was finally published in Vienna in 1626.
György Káldi, who died in Pozsony (today Bratislava, Slovakia) in 1634, enriched 16th-century Hungarian Catholic religious literature not only through his translation of the Scriptures, but also through his sermons, writings and meditations.
Photo: Pál-Martonfi Xénia