The Premonstratensians in Csorna and our service

When Saint Norbert founded his canonical monastic community in Prémontré in 1121, he had two goals in mind. On the one hand, to create a community that maintains the framework of monasticism including living in community, the solemn common prayer, the shared meals, simplicity and poverty. On the other hand, he wanted his followers not to withdraw themselves from the world inside the monastery, but be engaged in pastoral work, preaching the good news of God to the people. In the 12th century, this was a novelty in monasticism, since the monastic communities at the time mainly performed manual labor and were involved in intellectual work, but did not regard pastoral work as one of their primary goals. Saint Norbert’s intention was to unite these two ways of life, the traditional and solemn monastic life and the pastoral life. A Premonstratensian confrerer once said, “If you mix a Benedictine monk and a secular priest, you will get a Premonstratensian canon regular”. Thus, this way of life, which may actually be linked to St. Norbert, is called vita mixta, i.e. mixed life. This is the commitment in which we try to maintain the balance between the outer and inner world in our lives. The commitment to live in both worlds with equal importance makes us Premonstratensian priests. We believe that this way of life is still highly relevant today and very Christlike. After all, we also see it in the life of Jesus as he lived in a community with his apostles, they lived their daily lives together, prayed and ate together. This duality was also present in the life of Jesus, sometimes he withdrew from people, prayed in lonely places; and at other times he taught and healed people, and preached the Good News of God to them. This is how we as Premonstratensian priests try to live the way of life and follow the path of Jesus and Norbert’s even today.

We, Premonstratensians never had a task that was far from us to take on throughout the centuries, our community always tried to meet the needs and the expectations of people as years passed by. In the Middle Ages, if someone had any difficulty or hardship, they could visit the nearest abbey without any doubts. After all, they could be certain that they would find a community there, which, among other things, was committed to help the locals in times of need. If someone suffered from anguish or was distressed, they surely found a priest who could provide support and God’s comfort. If someone faced financial troubles, they could also turn to the canons, since taking care of the poor had been an everyday part of the Premonstratensian way of life since the days of St. Norbert, and thus people could be certain that the provisor of the monastery would help them either with some money or food. If someone had a dispute or an issue of legal nature, they also turned to the Premonstratensians who were able to make peace in controversial legal issues due to their activity in the monastery as a place of authentication. If someone had a physical ailment or illness, there was always a priest who knew the herbs and could provide relief.

Today, in the same way, we try to be of service first to God and then to all the people. We are present in our 3 educational institutions, our secondary grammar school in Szombathely (www.szent-norbert.hu), our secondary vocational school in Keszthely (premontrei-keszthely.hu/) and our elementary school in Rezi (premontrei-lakydemeter.hu). In addition, another major field of our service is to perform pastoral duties, which has characterized the Canons Regular of Prémontré since the beginnings. Today we provide pastoral care in 20 churches with pastoral centers in Csorna, Szombathely and Türje. But our members are present in the field of care for the elderly at the Saint Norbert Care Home in Csorna, where we provide care for 70 elderly people; and also in higher education, where one confrerer of our order serves the Church as a university professor.

Short History of the Abbey of Csorna

The Abbey of Csorna as the oldest Premonstratensian community in today’s Hungary was founded in 1180 by a member of the aristocratic Osl family, primarily for religious reasons. Along with the common monastic life and prayer, the Premonstratensians of Csorna have always undertaken various tasks since the monastery was founded. The monastery functioned as a place of authentication, in fact, the canons provided legal service for the residents of the neighboring areas. The first records of such activities date back to 1247. The confrerers were likely to have also performed pastoral work as the first parish church of the village of Csorna was located in the area belonging to the monastery, and thus its parish priest could have been a Premonstratensian canon regular in medieval times. Nothing proves the fruitful life of the monastery better than the fact that within the first century after it was established, Premonstratensians founded three new provostships, one in Türje in 1184 and two more in Rajk and Mórichida around 1240.
However, further progress was hindered by external circumstances over the forthcoming centuries. First, the Mongol invasion hit the Premonstratensians of Csorna, then the monastic community, weakened by the kommenda system, was dissolved when Hungarian territories were ruled by the Ottoman Empire. The Premonstratensians of Csorna owed their post-Ottoman revival to Austrian and Moravian Premonstratensians, who in 1702 restarted monastic life in Csorna first from the Perneg Abbey in Austria and then from 1710 from the Hradisch Abbey in Moravia. This renewal was brought to a halt by the decree of Joseph II, who dissolved the Csornai Premonstratensian Provostship together with many other monastic orders in 1782. Monastic life could restart in 1802 thanks to Emperor Francis I, who gave the Premonstratensians of Csorna the task of teaching in addition to pastoral care, and thus Gymnasiums were established in Szombathely and Keszthely in 1808 and in Csorna in 1947. In addition to teaching, the Premonstratensian provostships of Jánoshida and Türje were also united with Csorna by Emperor Francis I, so they functioned as priest houses of Csorna, ensuring continuous religious presence in these ancient Premonstratensian locations.

This flourishing era was ended by the communist dictatorship and when the monastic orders were dissolved in 1950, 64 Premonstratensian confrerers from Csorna, Szombathely, Keszthely, Türje and Jánoshida were being scattered to the four winds.

During the years of socialism, the members of the order lived scattered across Hungary. Some were able to get a job as diocesan priests, some as teachers, and some as factory workers. However, a group of seven confrerers from the Abbey of Csorna managed to escape abroad in the summer of 1950. Under the leadership of László Keresztesy-Parker, a novice master and magister, they founded a new Premonstratensian community in the United States of America, California in 1961. This newly-established community has been an independent priory since 1975 and having the status of abbey conferred in 1984 is named as St. Michael Abbey of Orange today. In 2018 around 100 priests lived in the abbey. In 1997 they founded a monastery of Norbertine Canonesses regular in Tehachapi, California, where 43 canonesses serve at present.

In 1989, after the fall of socialism, the Premonstratensian Provostship of Csorna was also revived. The community was first led by Master Alderik as moderator, but Dr. Ödön Lóránt Horváth represented the community already. The first ceremonial take-over of the habit took place on August 13 1989. On June 12 1990 the Premonstratensian canons regular of Csorna, who were still alive but mostly elderly and retired at the time, elected dr. Lóránt Ödön Horváth, a theology teacher in Győr, the abbot of the community. Abbot Ödön led the community for almost twenty years, until 2009. God gave him the task of restarting the life of the Premonstratensian community and making the property and the dilapidated buildings habitable. A milestone in the life of our monastery was the year of 2009 when Abbot Ödön retired and the community elected Father Márton Zoltán Fazakas to lead them as the superior of the Premonstratensians of Csorna. While the focus of Abbot Ödön’s ministry was the resumption of religious life and service, Abbot Márton expanded the number of confrerers and the services ensured by the Premonstratensians. Our priests started to serve in more and more churches and parishes, new buildings were built either for our secondary school in Szombathely or for the monastery in Csorna to care for the elderly.

In 2023 our community has 10 members, with the oldest being 54 and the youngest 29. We trust that God will continue to send young people who hear God’s call to devote their lives to the Premonstratensian monasticism in Csorna.

Contact

Telephone: +36 96/261-518
Fax: +36 96/593-516
Email: premontrei@gmail.com
Postal Address: Csornai Premontrei Prépostság, H-9300 Csorna, Soproni út 65.

Tourism and Pilgrims Reception

Our abbey warmly welcomes visitors regardless whether they arrive as pilgrims or tourists. For tourists, we provide guided tours led by priests for pre-registered groups. Guided tours in foreign languages are also available on request. For further information click the Tourism tab. Should you intend to take a restful break or do a silent retreat in our monastery, we also welcome you. If you require any further information regarding such retreats, please contact us at premontrei@gmail.com.
We highly recommend visiting our medieval church in Türje where the Gothic and Baroque art meet in perfect harmony. You can read more information about our building complex of Türje in Hungarian here;