30 May
Feast of the Finding of the Holy Right Hand

Feast of the Finding of the Holy Right Hand – 30 May

The Hungarian Catholic Church dedicated a special feast day to the Holy Right Hand, the sacred relic of the right hand of Hungary’s first king, Saint Stephen. This feast, once widely observed throughout the country, commemorates the rediscovery of the relic, which had been lost for 200 years during the time of the Ottoman occupation. The remembrance of the Finding of the Holy Right is already mentioned in early 13th-century Hungarian calendars, and is celebrated on 30 May.

The Holy Right is the miraculously preserved right hand of Saint Stephen, Hungary’s first king and Christian ruler.

During the dynastic struggles following Saint Stephen’s death, the canons of Székesfehérvár, fearing the desecration of his remains, removed his body from the marble sarcophagus in the centre of the basilica and hid it in a crypt beneath the church. At that time, the mummified right hand was separated from the body and taken to the basilica’s treasury. The keeper of the treasury, named Mercurius (Merkur), stole the relic and concealed it. In 1083, during the canonisation process of Saint Stephen, King Saint Ladislaus heard about the relic, visited Mercurius at his estate in Bihar, where the relic was being kept, forgave him, and founded an abbey at the site for its safekeeping. The settlement of Szentjobb (now in Romania) was named after the relic.

According to the legend written by Bishop Hartvik, there is no mention of theft; rather, he claims that it was King Ladislaus who had the Holy Right removed from the tomb in Székesfehérvár during the canonisation process, where it had rested for 45 years.

For centuries, the faithful made pilgrimages to venerate the Holy Right. During the Ottoman occupation, the relic was first taken to Fehérvár, then eventually to Bosnia, where Christian merchants bought it at great cost and delivered it to the Dominican monastery in Ragusa (modern-day Dubrovnik) around 1590. Its whereabouts remained unknown in Hungary for over 200 years, until Hungarian nobles discovered its location by chance. They informed Emperor Leopold I and later Empress Maria Theresa, who, after lengthy diplomatic negotiations, managed to recover the relic. It was first brought to Schönbrunn Palace on 26 April 1771, and then to Buda. There, it was entrusted to the care of the provost of the Sigismund Chapel (also the court chaplain) and the superior of the English Ladies Convent. To commemorate its recovery, Maria Theresa had a special commemorative coin minted. The remembrance day of the Finding of the Holy Right is 30 May.

By order of Emperor Joseph II, the relic’s safekeeping was assigned to the Bohemian military order of the Knights of the Red Star. From 1865, this responsibility passed to the Archdiocese of Esztergom, and from 1882, the parish priest of the Royal Palace of Buda, appointed by the king, became its guardian. In 1862, the Hungarian bishops commissioned a new reliquary; the original is now housed in the Esztergom Primatial Basilica and holds the relics of Saint Mark of Kőrös.

Between 1900 and 1944, the Holy Right was once again kept in the Sigismund Chapel. In 1938, marking the 900th anniversary of Saint Stephen’s death, a Holy Year was declared, and the relic was carried in procession throughout the country. The celebrations began on 30 May, following the International Eucharistic Congress held in Budapest.

During the Second World War, the Holy Right, along with the Hungarian coronation regalia, was stolen by the Nazis and hidden in a cave near Salzburg. The American army later found the relic and entrusted it to the Archbishop of Salzburg. It was then returned to Hungary by the American Military Mission, and once again carried in procession on 20 August. Until 1950, when religious orders were disbanded, the relic was kept by the English Ladies in Budapest. During the Communist era, the processions were banned, and the Holy Right was locked away in a safe within Saint Stephen’s Basilica.

On 20 August 1987, the Holy Right Chapel was consecrated within Saint Stephen’s Basilica, and the relic was placed there permanently. In 1988, marking the 950th anniversary of Stephen’s death, the Holy Right was again carried in procession across Hungary, visiting archiepiscopal and episcopal sees, as well as the Abbey of Pannonhalma. Since 1989, the national procession of the Holy Right has once again been held annually on 20 August.