budapestbug:The story of the Holy Right is as adventurous, as Hungary’s history - in the 13t
budapestbug: The story of the Holy Right is as adventurous, as Hungary’s history - in the 13th century during the mongol invasion, it was sent to Dubrovnik in Croatia for safekeeping by the Dominican monks. It is believed that it was around this time that the monks separated the hand from the arm, sending the upper arm to Lemburg, and the lower arm to Vienna, and kept the hand for themselves in Croatia. In 1771, Maria Theresa of the Austro-Hungarian empire took the Holy Right from the monks and placed it in Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. After a few years, it was returned to the Hungarians and was placed in the parish of the royal palace in Buda, while a part of it still today in the Saint Stephen’s chatedral of Vienna. It was also Maria Theresa, who ordered the present silver-gold relicholder for the Holy Right and decorated the hand with pearls and precious stones. Resting in the Royal Palace of Buda was a shortlive, as the front of WWll approached Budapest in 1944, the Holy Right was taken back into Austria and was kept by the archbishop of Salzburg. At long last, on August 20, 1945, the priest of the American army brought the hand from Austria to its rightful Hungarian owners. Since that time the Holy Right is in the Saint Stephen Basilica of Budapest and can be seen by anyone. Every year on August 20th, Hungary celebrates St. Stephen’s Day with a parade and process of this small, but unique and precious relic: the withered mummified right hand of King St. Stephen, a manifestation of a sense of national pride, for like the Hungarians themselves, the hand has travelled a long and difficult road.. -- source link