Friedrich Bernard Christian Maassen
United Sees of Macerata and Tolentino
Vicariate Apostolic of Mackenzie
Marie-Edmé-Patrice-Maurice de MacMahon
Joseph-Anna-Marie de Moyria de Mailla
François-Pierre-Gonthier Maine de Biran
Françoise, Marquise de Maintenon
Joseph-Marie, Comte de Maistre
Marcellinus of Civezza, O.F.M.
Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament
Prefecture Apostolic of Mariana Islands
Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill
Sts. Maris, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum
Lucius Perpetuus Aurelianus Marius Maximus
Vicariate Apostolic of Marquesas Islands
Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage
Diocese of Marseilles (Massilia)
Vicariate Apostolic of the Marshall Islands
Diocese of Marsico Nuovo and Potenza
Luigi Ferdinando, Count de Marsigli
Missionaries of the Company of Mary
Servants of Mary (Order of Servites)
Society of Mary (Marist Fathers)
St. Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus
Richard Angelus a S. Francisco Mason
Devises and Bequests for Masses (United States)
Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus
Caius Julius Verus Maximinus Thrax
Prefecture Apostolic of Mayotte, Nossi-Bé, and Comoro
Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod
Abbey and Congregation of Melk
Vicariate Apostolic of Méndez and Gualaquiza
Francisco Sarmiento de Mendoza
Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy
Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo
Frédéric-François-Xavier Ghislain de Mérode
Delegation Apostolic of Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, and Armenia
Metal-Work in the Service of the Church
Prince Klemens Lothar Wenzel von Metternich
Francis, Joseph, and Paul Mezger
Military Orders of St. Michael
Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola
Congregation of the Sisters of Misericorde
Prefecture Apostolic of Misocco and Calanca
Congregation of Priests of the Mission
Congregation of Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo
Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales of Annecy
Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle
Mission Indians (of California)
Catholic Indian Missions of Canada
Catholic Indian Missions of the United States
François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno
Diocese of Molfetta, Terlizzi, and Giovinazzo
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière
Principality and Diocese of Monaco
Canonical Erection of a Monastery
Monophysites and Monophysitism
Monothelitism and Monothelites
Montagnais Indians (Chippewayans)
Charles-Forbes-René, Comte de Montalembert
Marquis de Louis-Joseph Montcalm-Gozon
Diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
Anne, First Duke of Montmorency
Alexis-François Artaud de Montor
Antoine-Jean-Baptiste-Robert Auget, Baron de Montyon
Dioceses of Mostar and Markana-Trebinje
Feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary
Toribio de Benavente Motolinia
Congregations of Mount Calvary
Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Karl Ernst, Freiherr von Moy de Sons
Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
St. Clair Augustine Mulholland
Baron Eligius Franz Joseph von Münch-Bellinghausen
Archdiocese of Munich-Freising
(Or Pannonhalma)
An important Benedictine abbey in Hungary about fourteen English miles south of Raab, and sixty west of Buda-Pesth. From an early date the place was traditionally regarded as the scene of the birth and early life of the famous St. Martin of Tours and was held in great veneration by the small Christian population of Hungary. Towards the end of the tenth century the Benedictine monastery was begun by Duke Geysa, and completed by his more celebrated son, St. Stephen, the king. The second Sunday of October, 1001, witnessed the dedication of the church. The site is a pleasant one on a high plateau with extensive views to the north and east, and occupies the ground once covered by a strongly fortified Roman encampment. Almost uninterruptedly from that date the "Holy Mountain of Hungary", as it came to be called, has been the centre of all that is best in the religious and intellectual life of the kingdom. The first Christian school established in Hungary, it soon attracted large numbers of students; popes and kings increased and guaranteed its possessions, and owing to its strongly fortified position it escaped destruction more than once when all around was ruined. The Tartar invasion left it unscathed. It was less fortunate under Archabbot Matthew, who died in 1584, during the disasrous five years in which the Turks were masters of Hungary, though it escaped annihilation till the fall of its fortress in 1594, when the community was scattered. The younger monks were received into various Austrian monasteries and the valuable archives were sacred from destruction. It was not till peace was fully restored in 1683 that St. Martin's Abbey rose from its ashes, the only house of the fifty which had belonged to the Benedictine Order in medieval Hungary. Its schools were reopened in 1724 and flourished till the days of Joseph lI the "Sacristan" (1780-86), whose narrowmindedness could not leave untouched so vigorous a centre of religious feeling and Hungarian sentiment and language.
The eclipse of Martinsberg lasted about sixteen years. In 1802, on 12 March, the abbey and its colleges were reopened in deference to the general desire of the nation, and an archabbot was appointed in the person of Dom Chrysostom Novak. Since that time the fortunes of the community have prospered. The abbey and church have been rebuilt in the Italian style, and form an imposing group of buildings. The house is the centraI home of all the monks of the Hungarian congregation; its superior, the archabbot, is a prelate "nullius", immediately subject to the Holy See, Ordinary of the Diocese, perpetual President of the Benedictine Congregation of Hungary, and a member of the House of Magnates of the kingdom. Subject to his government, besides the actual community at Martinsberg, are the abbeys of St. Maurice and Companions at Bakonybel, of St. Anian at Tihany, of St. Mary at Doemelk, and St. Hadrian at Zalavar, and six residences, with colleges attached, in various parts of the kingdom, Gyor with 448 students, Sopron with 345, Estergom with 366, and three minor gymnasia, Koszeg with 208, Komarom with 144, and Papa with 157 students. The entire congregation of Hungarian Benedictines numbers about 160 priests, with some 40 or 50 clerics and novices. The congregation administers also in 26 incorporated parishes, with seventy-five daughter churches and forty-four chapels; serving a population of nearly 18,000 souls; it has the supervision besides of five convents of nuns; its high schools, "gymnasia majora" are attended by about 1200 boys, its lesser seminaries by over 500. The monks of St. Martin's have contributed largely to the modern theological, scientific and historical literature of their country, and have given many distinguished men to the Church. Cardinal Claud Vaszary, Archbishop of Gran, and Bishop Kohl, his auxiliary, are perhaps the best known representatives of the Hungarian Benedictines at the present day.
Album Benedictinum (St. Vincent's Abbey, Pennsylvania, 1880); SS. Patriarchae Benedicti familiae confaederatae (Rome, Vatican Press, 1905); Scriptores Ord. S. Benedicti, qui 1750-1880 fuerunt in imperio Austriaco-Hungarico (Vienna, 1880).
John Gilbert Dolan.