Cardinal Mindszenty's Instructions to the Hungarian People

On the day of his elevation to the dignity of Prince-Primate, Cardinal Mindszenty adjured his faithful in these terms: "Let us be a people of prayer. If we re-learn how to pray, we will possess an inexhaustible source of strength and faith. I place my trust in these million and million prayers and pilgrimages and in the Rosary of my Mother." In 1948, he declared: "My deepest wish is that a million Hungarians would pick up their Rosary and start begging Mary." And in one of his pastoral letters: "We see the finger of God in the events of History--even in the perils and storms. This is why our trust in him will never flinch. This is why we are calling you to place your destiny--through Mary--in the hands of God. Let us return to the oldest sources of our Hungarian patrimony! Let us give back to the Virgin Mary the name of Queen, so she may take hold of our destiny." Listen to his prayer to the Mother of God: "Mary, our Mother, the pains we endure are offered up for our expiation. May the sighs and tears, the fear, the bitterness, the silent complaining of the world serve to expiate our sins. We are ready to suffer, O dolorous Mother, as much as your Son will judge it good for our salvation. However, we pray that you would lift up our sorely tested nation as Job was lifted up, and show us that you are still our Mother."