FERENC GALLA, The Pauline Order’s Missions in Hungary in the 17–18th Centuries (CVH I/11), edited by István Fazekas, Budapest–Rome 2015. x + 536 p. + 1 suppl. (map)
The monograph of Ferenc Galla written in Hungarian language processes the role of the Pauline Order in the propagation of the faith in Hungary in the 17th-18th century. The work is divided into three parts. In the first part the author deals with the inner reform of the Order, then with their joining in the missions of the propagation of the faith. The subject of the second part is the development of the Pauline missions that coincides with the Kuruc wars, the uprisings against the Habsburgs and the Great Turkish War in the last third of the 17th century. In the third part the missionary activity of the Order in the 18th century is presented. The monograph is based on a large number of sources revealed by decades of research in the Archives of the Sacra Congregazione de Propaganda Fide and in the Hungarian National Archives. Apart from its rich source base, the very sophisticated, still valid judgements of the author make this volume an indispensable reading for all of those who are interested in the church and social history of the early modern Hungary.
It was redacted with professional care by István Fazekas the senior researcher of our Research Institute in the frame of the 'Impetus' project. During this work the scholarly note apparatus was reconstructed partly through independent research.
The volume is dedicated to the memory of György István Tóth (1956–2005), the primary intellectual heir of Ferenc Galla and outstanding figure of the researches in the Vatican Archives concerning the history of missions, who died tragically young 10 years ago.
The usage of the monograph is facilitated by professional note apparatus, the enumeration of the used sources, Bibliography (pp. 465–474), Index (pp. 475–520), detailed English summary with notes and chapter headings, and table of contents (pp. 521–532 and 533–535).