Ferenc Flóris Kühár
Ferenc Kühar, Flóris by his monastic name, was a Catholic priest, a Benedictine monk, author of theological and philosophical texts and university professor. He was born on the 5th of July 1893, as the fourth child of a peasant family in Prosenjakovci.
His father, Ferenc Kühar, came from the village of Kukeč while his mother, Katarina Sabotin, lived in Prosenjakovci. After their wedding, his parents lived in the house of his mother´s parents. Due to his parents´ origins, the family spoke Hungarian, but they understood and used Slovene as well. His father was determined his children should learn a profession which is why János became a shoemaker, József became a tailor and István took over the family farm. The youngest son, Ferenc, after finishing primary school, left for Kőszeg on the recommendation of the priest of Kančevci, where he continued his studies as a scholarship holder of the Kelcz-Adelffy fund. He completed his studies with distinction and, at the age of sixteen, applied to become a member of the Benedictine Order.
In 1909, he put on his monastic robes in Pannonhalma and was given the name Flóris after Saint Florian. On the 29th of June, 1916, he was ordained as a priest in the monastery church in Győr. In 1917, he defended his doctoral thesis and was afterwards appointed as priest in Celldömölk. At the age of twenty-nine, he was appointed teacher of Pastoral Care and Church Law at the Benedictine High School of Pannonhalma. During this period, he wrote some of his scientific work. Between 1929 and 1931, he taught Benedictine boarders dogmatics and sacramentology. After returning to Hungary, he continued working as a teacher at the Benedictine High School of Pannonhalma but he was also given a new task: he became the dean of a diocese that was under the jurisdiction of the archabbot of Pannonhalma. His superiors were pleased with his work, therefore, they entrusted him with leading the Benedictine monastic house in Budapest and, later on, appointed him as associate professor of the University of Budapest.
He died on the 26th of November 1943, at only fifty years of age. Though his remains were laid to eternal rest in the monastic church in the village of Tiszaújfalu, the following lines witness his loyalty towards the place where he was born. They were written in his diary a couple of months prior to his sudden death:
“One cannot compare the taste, smell, colour and the atmosphere of one´s birthplace with anything else. The older I get, the more I love my home village. My room is ready for me now at home: but for how long will I be able to return home freely…”
Literature, source of photographs:
- Boros Zoltán 2016. Kühár Flóris bencés szerzetes életútja – Življenjska pot benediktinskega meniha Flórisa Küharja. Pártosfalva – Ljubljana: Moravske Toplice Községi Magyar Nemzeti Önigazgatási Közösség – Nemzetiségi Kutatóintézet.
- www.inv.si/DocDir/Publikacije-PDF/2016/KNJIGA_kuhar.pdf
