Death of Stephen I of Hungary

August 15, 1038

The first king of Hungary, who had bound his Magyar people to Western Christianity and sent St. Gerard to evangelize the lake country, died at Szekesfehervar. His kingdom at once plunged into thirty years of pagan reaction and civil war. Rome would make him a saint within fifty years. His right hand, miraculously preserved, became Hungary's most sacred relic, still displayed in Budapest today.