The last leg of Father General Arturo Sosa’s visit to the Hungarian Province saw him visit Székelyland (Romania). There, he met with the Endes István community in Târgu Mures, and encouraged the residents of the local Jesuit college to witness about their relationship with Jesus. The next day, in the retreat house in Székelybő, Father Sosa, his assistants and the Provincial of the Hungarian Province, András Attila looked back on the visit in prayer.

“The Ascension, therefore, is not a sad memory of a farewell. It is above all the moment when we are entrusted with a new and important mission”, said Fr Sosa in his homily at Mass on the Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension. Father General, quoting Paul VI and Pope Francis, said that our world needs not only teachers who pass on knowledge from books, but also witnesses who pass on their personal experience to others. He encouraged everyone to seek personal experiences with Jesus Christ and to bear witness to Him not only in words, but by their whole way of life.

“I would like you to take this to heart, especially in this Jubilee Year of Hope: if Christ has chosen us as his witnesses, it means that he is counting on each one of us, on a personal encounter with each one of us, an encounter so intimate that it enables us to continue his work in the world. This is no small thing!”, he said.

Jesuit Court in Transylvania

The Hungarian Jesuits – among them István Endes – first arrived in 1702 to the Transylvanian city called Târgu Mures, then a part of Hungary. Against the backdrop of the Rákóczi War of Independence, they founded a monastery and a Catholic school in the then protestant city. The Society of Jesus was suppressed in 1773 and the Jesuits were only able to return to Târgu Mures in 2008 thanks to the invitation of the then Archbishop of Transylvania. They were given the vacant Minorite church and a house to use. In the Jesuit Courtyard, located in the city centre, they ran a university chaplaincy and university hall, in addition to the Church of St Anthony of Padua.

The Jesuit Courtyard is a spiritual centre for local residents, students and youth groups. “Our target audience is not only students in higher education, but also everyone, through their families and environment, who is touched by the Christian call to spiritual life and community service”, said Barnabas Jakabos, the local community’s magistrate. Their aim is to spread the spirituality of St Ignatius in Transylvania, which is why in 2022 they inaugurated the St Ignatius House in nearby Székelybő, which also hosts Spiritual Exercises and the training of pastoral care workers they launched during the Covid epidemic.

In dialogue with the university hall community

After the Holy Mass, presided over by Archbishop Gergely Kovács, Father General spoke with the residents of the Jesuit University Hall, who presented to him their training system based on Ignatian spirituality: self-organization, charity, personal accompaniment and community building. They also shared with him their questions about their future, their vocation, being a minority and the Jesuit mission. Fr Sosa encouraged the young people – referring back to his sermon – to reflect on how they could pass on what they had experienced here to their university classmates.