The Hand of St. Stephen.

Posted by gail in Arts & Crafts, Religion on August 23, 2007 at 8:22 am


stephen

This ornate reliquary houses the mummified hand of St. Stephen (975-1038), the first crowned king of Hungary. The relic is still venerated in remembrance of Stephen’s conversion of the Magyars and unification of Hungary. Curious Expeditions has the full story and more pictures.

An interesting side note regarding the crown of St. Stephen, from Wikipedia:


The Holy Crown, popularly attributed to St. Stephen, was removed from the country in 1945 for safekeeping, and entrusted to the UnitedStates government. It was kept in a vault at Fort Knox  until 1978, when it was returned to the nation by order of President Jimmy Carter. It has been enshrined in the Hungarian Parliament building in Budapest since 2000.



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COMMENT

6 comments to "The Hand of St. Stephen."

  1. Lisa
    August 23rd, 2007 at 9:10 am

    Wikipedia is mistaken- the hand is in the Basilica of St. Stephen. At least it was when I saw it in 2005.

  2. Lisa
    August 23rd, 2007 at 9:11 am

    oh.. CROWN. I guess I should learn to read better.

  3. Darren
    August 23rd, 2007 at 11:03 am

    I just saw that gnarled ol’ thing a couple of weeks ago.

  4. Sid Morrison
    August 23rd, 2007 at 11:50 am

    It’s pretty cool. I like stuff like that. Aachen, Germany, Charlemagne’s favorite palace site, has a see-through reliquary with the arm bones of Charlemagne in its cathedral (which he had built 1200 years ago). The rest of him is there as well…

  5. Solo
    August 23rd, 2007 at 5:27 pm

    So it’s a thousand years old piece of jerky, bone-in? Sorry, I’ll pass.

  6. Istvan
    August 24th, 2007 at 9:11 am

    When I visited Budapest, the Reliquiry had a coin slot attached to it that turns a light on so you can actually see it. 20 forint for 1 minute.

    At the main alter of the Basilica is also pieces of the leg bones of St Gellert as well!


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