A pálya végén. Fraknói Vilmos utolsó hónapjai, temetése és korai emlékezete [The end of the career. The last months, funeral and early memories of Vilmos Fraknói] (original) (raw)

Kanász Viktor: A pálya végén. Fraknói Vilmos utolsó hónapjai, temetése és korai emlékezete. In: Tusor Péter - Kanász Viktor (szerk.): Fraknói Emlékkönyv. Fraknói Vilmos (1843–1924) püspök, történész, a Magyar Tudományos Akadémia főtitkárának emlékezete. Halálának 100. évfordulóján. Budapest-Roma,...

By his old age, Vilmos Fraknói had become a nationally recognised and famous figure. His statements and scientific works were of considerable public interest. He celebrated his 80th birthday in 1923, but was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent surgery in the spring of 1923 in Vienna. He then moved finally back home, lived in Zebegény and Budapest, then in the Park Sanatorium in Pest, and later spent his last months in the Red Cross Hospital in Buda. Here he worked mainly on the processing of the Corvin Library and on writing the history of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and finally passed away on 20 November 1924. Fraknói was considered by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Szent István (St. Stephen) Society as one of their own, providing funeral honours. The scientist was laid in state in the columned hall of the Academy. From there, his coffin was taken by horse-drawn carriage to the cemetery on Kerepesi út, accompanied by his relatives, Ferenc Kollányi and his admirers. The funeral service was conducted by Ottokár Prohászka. On the initiative of Albert Berzeviczy, a dignified burial monument was erected by 1929. The scholar-priest’s memory did not fade after his death: a multitude of memorials, recollections and articles have recalled his figure. And on the 100th anniversary of his birth, he was commemorated by Gyula Szekfű in his native country and by the Osservatore Romano in his second homeland, Rome. The memory of this leading scholar of Vatican-Hungarian research was suppressed by the communist dictatorship following the Second World War. Despite this, the memory of Vilmos Fraknói lives on to this day, his importance is symbolised by the Vilmos Fraknói Prize, established by the Hungarian state in 2000, and his scholarly work is carried on by the academical Research Group of the Catholic University bearing his name.