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Blessed Vilmos Apor
Baron Vilmos Apor de Altorja, Bishop of Győr, died on 2nd April 1945, on Easter Monday. The much-loved priest had been shot three times by a drunken soldier of the invading Read Army, as he stood protecting the women and girls who had sought refuge in the Bishop’s palace from being carried off by the soldiers. His heroic stand fulfilled his episcopal motto: “The Cross strengthens the meek and tames the strong”. He gave his life for his flock.
His father, baron Gábor Apor sn., belonged to an ancient Szekler family; his mother was Countess Fidelia Pálffy. Vilmos was born, as second-last of nine children, on 29th February 1892 in Segesvár (Sighisoara). He studied with the Jesuits in Kalksburg and Kalocsa, and entered the seminary in Győr straight after completing his secondary studies. He obtained a doctorate in theology from the University of Innsbruck. He was ordained on 24th August 1914. He was posted to Gyula as chaplain: there, he first showed his deep commitment to social issues by founding the “Office for the Protection of Women” and through his work with Margit Schlachta in the “Social Mission Society”. In 1917 he served on a hospital train, then he was posted for a year as prefect in the seminary of Nagyvárad (Oradea), before being sent back to Gyula as parish priest.
His pastoral and social activities in Gyula were highly successful. He took a stand on behalf of religious teaching in schools during the brief Communist dictatorship in 1919; he travelled to Bucharest during the Romanian occupation, to intercede for the liberation of civilian hostages; he supported Catholic renewal movements. He brought into Gyula two orders of nuns who specialised in social work. He organised parish missions and pilgrimages; he accompanied his flock to attend the big national religious events. He took care of the school fees and clothing of poor children. During more than two decades of work in Gyula he earned the respectful title of “parish priest of the poor”.
He joined the Sovereign Order of Malta on 20th February 1937 as Conventual Chaplain ad honorem.
He was consecrated bishop in Gyula on 24th February 1940. His brother Gábor Apor – who later became Grand Chancellor of the Order of Malta - stood the expenses of the celebration, while the new bishop paid the accumulated debts of the Saint Stephen Orphanage.
As a bishop, he could do his pastoral and social work even more effectively, but the war demanded a political stand, too. During the conference of leaders of Catholic social movements, held in August 1943, he warned: “The Third Reich cannot win this war, and defeat will be followed by a political and societal transformation of this country.” He impressed upon his audience that they, too, had a role in ensuring that “this transformation should be truly democratic in spirit.”
On Pentecost Sunday 1944, he was informed that a ghetto would be set up in Győr. In his sermon that day, he condemned the persecution of the Jews with these words: “« Whoever betrays the fundamental principle of Christianity, that of love … and proclaims that it is lawful to torment human beings, be they Blacks, or Jews … as much as he may boast about his Christianity, he is like a pagan or a public sinner.” He wrote a letter the very same day to the Fascist Minister of the Interior, protesting against the rounding up of the Jews, and wrote petitions to the Regent and the Cardinal Primate concerning the deportations and internments.
On 7th July 1997, the Holy See proclaimed by decree, in presence of Pope John Paul II, the title of martyr for Vilmos Apor. He was beatified on 9th November 1997. His feast day is 23rd May.
