back 2001/225 forward
St. Andrej Svorad and St. Benedict
Catalogue Number:  296
Stamp Design:  Igor Benca
Stamp Engraving:  František Horniak
Date of Issue:  May 16, 2003
Printing:  Postal Stationery Printing House, Prague, Czech Republic
Print Technology:  Rotary recess printing combined with recess printing
Size of Impression:  30.0 mm x 23.0 mm
Print Run:  5,000,000 pieces
FDC Motif:  Igor Benca
FDC Engraving:  František Horniak
Cancellation Design:  Igor Benca
FDC Printing:  TAB, Bratislava
FDC Print Technology:  Recess printing from flat plates
FDC Print Run:  6,000


St. Andrej Svorad (980? -1034?), monk and hermit, came from Poland and his Slavic name is Svorad (Swierad in Polish). In the monastery of St. Hypolit in Zobor near Nitra he adopted name Andrej. He renounced a common life in Benedictine monastery and preferred a life of a hermit with fasting and uninterrupted prayer. One legend holds that his hermitage was in a small cave at Skalka mountains beside Trenčín above the Váh River, where he lived with his follower Benedict (? -1037?).
After Andrej's death, the monk Benedict continued to live out in quiet seclusion at Skalka. Around 1037, he was attacked by highwaymen, trussed up and thrown into the Váh River. One year later, Benedict's body was found intact in the water. He was buried in the grave of his spiritual father Andrej in the basilica of St. Emeram in Nitra. In 1930 -1931, the saint's remains in silver relics were removed to newly reconstructed Romanesque church near basilica.
In 1064, Pécs's bishop Maurus wrote biography of the two saints. In 1083, the Pope Gregory VII canonised Svorad and Benedict and they became patrons of the Hungarian Kingdom.

After R. Ondruš: Close to God and People
processed by Antónia Paulinyová M.A.


FDC
Contents 1993-2001
Year 2001
Copyright ©2003 askom