IMPROVEMENT IN HEALTH OF CARDINAL

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28162, 28 December 1956, Page 3

IMPROVEMENT IN HEALTH OF CARDINAL

Transfer To Old Castle In Southern Hungary “REGIME HAD BEEN HOPING FOR MY DEATH”

(World Copyright—New York Herald Tribune, Inc.) \By JOSEF CARDINAL MINDSZENTY, as told to Father Josef Vecsey] IV During the time I was in solitary confinement I was sick and became worse every dav. There was constantly a fever. In all those years I did not get adequate medical treatment. * I felt the regime was gambling on my death. I say they were gambling on my death, but really it was more than that. They were hoping for it and I knew this.

It happened one day when I was taken from solitary confinement to see the doctor. I was left alone in an office for just an instant, but it was enough time to see a document, on the desk which said that I was very sick and not expected to live, and I understood from the letter that they were pleased with the prospect of my death. In the face of this I decided that I would not give myself up and I drew on my remaining strength and offered myself totally to God, asking Him that He should not give them the satisfaction of having me die on their hands.

Then again and without warning, I was suddenly transferred from the isolation prison back to my old room in the hospital at the collecting prison. But still, so I would not know where I had been those years, they took me to the hospital in a closed car and on a long journey. (Note: Actually the

Conti Street Prison and the collecting prison are only three miles apart.) When I arrived I could hardly walk, I was so weak. My weight had dropped from 85 kilograms to only slightly more than 44. The food became much better. Once in a while there was a bottle of wine and a cigar. Now I was allowed to celebrate Mass. Father Ispanky wr.s also at the collecting prison and sometimes he would manage to send me pieces of paper on which he had written news of the Church, my fellow prisoners and the state of the world. After I was in the hospital for a short tirae, I was told that my disease was tuberculosis and that it was raging quickly through my body. The room where they had put me. my old room, had a long window and outside the window there was a terrace and a large courtyard on which other windows looked. On sunny days they opened the window and put a folding chair in front of it where I could sit. But to prevent that I might be seen by others, a screen was always put on the terrace. It closed the view but allowed the sun. “Wanted Me To Die” I doubted very much that this treatment would help my health. I felt the Bolsheviks wanted me to die despite the fact that I got this medical treatment. The physician, Dr. Szabo, was a kind, intelligent man who treated me well. He did everything he could to get me on my feet. He was a religious man. a good Protestant who did his best. His efforts at first were successful, than later I became worse. I know he was convinced there was no remedy for me, that I was going to die. And he was afraid of the responsibility. I do not blame him for his fear, for the Bolsheviks would certainly have used him as a scapegoat should I die. That is their way. I was ready to die; I had lost even more weight; but I decided again that I would pull all my strength together because I did not want to please them by dying. My condition improved somewhat, but not enough. A relapse could be expected any day. The good doctor was worried. His only alternative to save himself, should I die, was to have me taken off his hands. He had me moved, not out of malice, but out of fear. Actually I thank him for my recovery, because it was this fear which made him insist that I be taken to a place which had plenty of good air and sun. Good Air, New Doctor On July 16, 1955. the day before the Geneva Conference started, a limousine came to the collecting prison with A VO guards. I was put in it and driven to the south of Hungary, to the summer residence of the Bishop of Pecs, a , castle which is named Puspokszentlaszlo. The building itself is . very old and its walls breathe , dampness, but the good air of the . Mecsek Mountains and a new doctor re-established my health. The castle is set in a park, surrounded by the Mecsek forests and the slopes of the mountains. There was a wide lawn lined with flowers and beyond that a wood of spruce trees. After so many years in darkness the sight of those flowers and trees was also medicine to me. My new doctor stayed with me . much of the time. He came < every day and was fully respon- j sible for my treatment. He was i not a believer nor as kind as my doctor at the collecting prison. Actually he was an atheist and a Communist, but he was very able, i He gave me lots of injections. j Under his care and in my new 1

surroundings it did not take long for me to recover my health. Perhaps it was only four or five months later that I was better and no longer required his constant supervision. The doctor’s daily visits stopped. I was glad, because even though he was a good doctor, he was a man who liked to argue. He always wanted to talk about God, to tell me that there was no God, and to argue when I explained to him that he was wrong. He took an especial personal pride in being able to cure me and still not believe in God.

Change in Government Policy

I had suspected the Bolsheviks wanted to use my person and that this was why they gave me medical care. This was confirmed on my mother’s first visit to the castle. She said they had come to her and had asked her whether she wanted to make the journey. When she said “Yes” they sent an emissary to her at her home in Cszhmindszent with a limousine and drove her to Puspokszentlaszlo. (When the cardinal was first released, he made a statement to the press that it “is a miracle that I am now as I am.” In this he was referring to having seen the letter gloating over his predicted death and then only two or three days later being transferred to the prison hospital and started on the way to complete recovery. Of course, what happened was a change in official government

policy toward him, which came at the last possible moment. It was a reprieve which saved his life.) (The above is the fourth in a series of six articles by Josef Cardinal Mindszenty as told to the Rev. Josef Vecsey. The content of these articles was given Father Vecsey in several different conversations with the cardinal, which, for the purposes of serialisation, have been put in chronological order. The paragraphs in brackets are explanatory, descriptive or connective passages added by Father Vecsey.) World Copyright: New York Herald Tribune Inc.