A group of some twenty pilgrims from the Anglican Chaplaincy of Saint Margaret’s, Budapest, recently visited Esztergom, the primatial see of Hungary, and its famous Chapel dedicated to the English Saint Thomas Becket, where one of his only remaining relics was kept for centuries. Saint Margaret’s has been the Anglican presence in Budapest since the early 1990s and currently numbers some 60-70 worshippers each Sunday.

Just north of Budapest, Esztergom has been a cultural and religious centre of Hungary ever since Saint Stephen was crowned there as Hungary’s first king a thousand years ago. Like Canterbury in England, Esztergom is the seat of Hungary’s archbishop primate, currently Cardinal Péter Erdő. And Catholicism remains the predominant faith of Hungary but with large minorities of Presbyterians and Lutherans.

According to legend and available historical records, Thomas Becket and Lukács Bánfi, both later to become archbishops in their respective homelands, became lifelong friends during their student days in Paris. Upon Becket’s martyrdom in 1170, Bánfi somehow secured a relic of his friend, a small bone fragment, and had it brought to Esztergom where it has been kept with great reverence ever since; originally in the Chapel but most recently within the Cathedral itself for safekeeping.

Members of Saint Margaret’s were able to visit the Becket Chapel and recite Anglican Morning Prayer within its walls, probably the first such service ever held there. The group was later greeted warmly by one of the canons of the Cathedral, the Revd Árpád Bársony. “We were able to tour the cathedral, the largest church in Hungary,” explains Saint Margaret’s chaplain, Canon Frank Hegedűs, “and we also visited the tomb of the famed Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, a hero of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.” Following a lunch of traditional Hungarian picnic fare, the group returned home to Budapest.