This year, the diocese of Eger is celebrating the millennium of its foundation and the bicentenary of its elevation to an archdiocese. The celebrations will culminate on 25 September with a Mass celebrated in the basilica of Eger by the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Juliusz Janusz, while the homily will be given by the Primate of Hungary, Cardinal Péter Erdõ. The diocese was founded by the first king of Hungary, St. Stephen. Its patron is St. John apostle and evangelist. The bishop’s residence enjoyed its greatest moment of glory in the fifteenth century. In the period of the Turkish occupation the Episcopal see was occupied almost uninterruptedly. There was a period of expansion in the eighteenth century. The seminary was inaugurated; and the vicar György Foglár founded a school of canon law. The Jesuits founded a grammar school and a pharmacy. The Brothers of Mercy opened a hospital. In 1804, the diocese was raised to the rank of archdiocese. Today some 690,000 Catholics live in the diocese and 236 priests work in the 314 parishes. There are 38 aspiring priests in the seminary, and 20 Catholic schools in the archdiocese.
