A Small Contribution to the History of the Reception of St Patrick's Purgatory in Hungary

Abstract

In the early 1660s, a booklet on the Purgatory of St Patrick, translated from Latin into Hungarian, was published. While it has occasionally appeared in literary discussions and a few pages have been included in modern editions, it has not yet undergone a thorough philological study. Although a detailed comparison between the Hungarian text and the Latin original on which the translation is based remains to be conducted, this study aims to demonstrate, through analysis of select passages, that such an examination is highly worthwhile. The insertions and additions in the text reveal a deliberate translational approach, suggesting that the Hungarian version was crafted with a specific theological intent. This intent appears to be closely tied to contemporary inter-confessional theological debates regarding the afterlife.