1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910767601203321

Autore

Petrás Éva

Titolo

The Many Lives of a Jesuit, Freemason, and Philanthropist : The Story of Töhötöm Nagy

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Budapest : , : Central European University Press, , 2023

©2023

ISBN

9789633867198

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (307 pages)

Classificazione

BIO006000REL015000

Disciplina

327.124390092 B

Soggetti

Spies - Hungary

Church and state

BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical

RELIGION / Christianity / History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Cover -- Front matter -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Table of contents -- Foreword -- "Mother, Dreams Don't Lie..." -- Töhötöm Nagy and KALOT -- Either Side of the Front -- "Rome! My One Earthly Love!" -- "The Third Rome" -- South America - Another Life -- Töhötöm Nagy and Argentine Freemasonry -- The Catholic Church, Freemasons, and Communists -- Modus Vivendi Revisited -- Again in Action: The "Three-day Case" and "Infernal Solitaire" -- Disappearing Clues: Töhötöm Nagy and Hungarian Freemasonry -- "The Last Port of Call" -- Epilogue -- Sources and References -- Subject Index -- Name Index -- Back cover.

Sommario/riassunto

"The life of Töhötöm Nagy (1908-1979), Jesuit, Mason, and secret service agent, offers fascinating insights into interwar Hungary, the Catholic Church and Vatican diplomacy, Freemasonry, and the activities of communist state security service.As a young Jesuit Nagy was one of the leaders of a successful Catholic youth movement in interwar Hungary. After World War II he played an important role acting as an intermediary between the Vatican, the Red Army, and the Hungarian Catholic Church. After being sent to South America, he was attracted by liberation theology, but left the Society of Jesus, joined the Freemasons,



and did social and philanthropic work in the slums of Buenos Aires. However, in the late 1960s he agreed to work for the Hungarian state security service in return for his repatriation. This latter period is reconstructed from the files of the Historical Archives of State Security in Budapest. Éva Petrás writes with empathy but with a sense of distance of the courage and restless energy of her subject. Her discussion of the limits of free choice and Nagy's intense struggle to live a meaningful life make this biography breathtaking"--