JESUIT – PRAY – CODEX

In honour of the 250th anniversary of the dissolution of the Jesuit Order and the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Jesuit historian, György Pray, a two-day conference was organised by the ELTE University Library and Archives, the National Széchényi Library, the Institute of History, and the Province of the Society of Jesus in Hungary in Budapest.

On 28 September, in the main reading room of the University Library, György Pray’s life and lifework were presented together with the Jesuit Order’s 18th-century history, educational activity and the Order’s dissolution. On the second day of the conference, in the National Széchényi Library, expert talks were given on the Pray-Codex, the Funeral Oration, liturgical Latin and the vernacular. On 29 September, the Director of our Archives, Tamás Dénesi gave a talk with the title The Pray-Codex in the Benedictine Historiography. Since the book of rituals was copied for the Abbey of Boldva between 1192 and 1195, and it was in use in the Priory of Deáki belonging to Pannonhalma in 1228, it rightly aroused the interest of Benedictine researchers (Marián Réthei Prikkel, Menyhért Zalán, Flóris Kühár, Polikárp Radó, etc.).

The detailed programme of the conference can be read here: