Benedict Kisdy

Benedict Kisdy was a Hungarian Roman Catholic bishop in the 17th century. He was the founder of the Royal University in present-day Košice and the Bishop of Eger.

Biography

From 1596 to 1700, Kassa, Kingdom of Hungary was the seat of the bishops of Eger. It was during this time, from 1648 until 1660, that Benedict was bishop.
On 26 February 1657, he founded an academy in Košice, the first of its kind in the city. He went on to present it with 40,000 tallers. He placed it under the teaching administration of the Jesuits. The academy became a university with promulgation of a bull on 6 August 1660 by the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, [Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold I]. In 1777, the university was removed from Jesuit administration and became a Royal University.
He is buried in the Franciscan seminary church in Košice.

Legacy

On 6 April 1979, Pope [John Paul II] made an address to a group of Hungarian bishops, priests and congregation members. At the start of the speech he mentioned the work of the Hungarian College and the alumni of that college, stating, "I do not want to pass over in silence the figure of Benedict Kisdy, whose admirable hymns still ring out in your churches."