On April 10, 2024, the Fraknói Research Group held its 9th workshop seminar at the Central Seminary, within the walls of the former Pauline monastery, in the presence of students from Pázmány University. The subject of the seminar was the newly published Italian-Hungarian bilingual volume of the Collectanea Vaticana Hungariae. Its title was "The Baptismal Register of the Roman German-Hungarian College: The Baptismal Entries of Hungarian Students (1599–1713)." The author, Péter Tusor, presented his research and findings.
The first chapter provided an overview of the history of the College. Founded in 1552 as the German College and operating as the German-Hungarian College from 1580, this venerable institution has been well researched by both positivist and modern historiography. Thanks to the works of Andreas Steinhuber, Endre Veress, Peter Schmidt, and István Bitskey, the student prosopography, functioning, and impact of the institution on German and Hungarian cultural and ecclesiastical history are excellently understood for the early modern period. The College can be considered as the "missionary seminary of the old continent," contributing significantly to the formation of the European ecclesiastical and clerical landscape during the Council of Trent with its internal multiculturalism, multi-ethnicity, and naturally supra-national character.
The second chapter analyzed the baptismal register, while the third chapter provided information on the principles of source publication.
The research was inspired by an international conference held in Rome in December 2022. The publication of the volume also coincides with the Fraknói Memorial Year. In the late 19th century, Fraknói Vilmos (1843–1924) dealt with the history of the College in his study published in the pages of the Katholikus Szemle in 1887. The dedication of the book is addressed to S.E.R. Levente Balázs Martos, a former student of the Roman German-Hungarian College, on the first anniversary of his episcopal ordination. In the late 19th century, the Central Seminary hosted meetings of the Monumenta Vaticana Commission under the presidency of Cardinal Lajos Haynald. According to Fraknói Vilmos's vision in 1904, he would have become a member of the supervisory body of the Hungarian historical institute in Rome in case of vacancy at the Szent Jobb Abbey. Since 2004, the infrastructure of the Fraknói Research Group has been provided by the Central Seminary, where Fraknói Vilmos himself was a student from 1858 to 1864.
The e-book version of the volume can be downloaded here.
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