The Servant of God Didak KELEMEN was a popular and renowned preacher and a former Minister Provincial of the Province of Hungary. He was born in Mereni, Covasna County, Romania. He and died in Miskolc, Hungary in 1744.
Immediately after his death, Friar Didak’s fame of holiness of spread throughout Hungary. This was noted in the “Vita Servi Dei” written in the same year of his death by one of his disciples. Moreover, Friar Didak’s fame soon spread throughout the Order, a fact supported by various documents written in the second half of the 18th century.
During 1774-1776, the Bishop of Eger, Hungary, instructed a “super non cultu” process. However, this process was never completed simply because the bishop had neglected to give his ruling on the matter. Then, in 1794, the Bishop of Alba Iulia, Romania instructed a “super fame virtutum et miraculorum” process, which was completed after the testimony of a single witness and the acquisition of some documents on the life and virtues of the Servant of God from the episcopal curia in Eger. Not even this process, however, could be transmitted to Rome due to the political difficulties of the time.
In 1927, a new biography on Friar Didak aroused fresh interest in his cause among the friars and superiors of the Order in Hungary. In 1938, his cause gained additional support when the Office of General Postulation received a certified copy of the documents of the previous processes.
In 1975, in Rome, Friar Raymond RÁKOS published an extensive biography of the Servant of God and many of his letters. Two years later, His Eminence, László Cardinal LÉKAI, Primate of Hungary, presented a letter to Pope Paul VI, signed by all the bishops of Hungary, in which he urged the resumption of the cause. This was made possible in 1978, when the then Postulator General, Friar Donald KOS, presented a summary of the process of Eger to the Vatican Congregation.
In 1979-1980, we proceeded to the recognition of the mortal remains of the Servant of God and his fitting reburial in our church in Miskolc. The following year, the then Postulator General, Friar Ambrogio SANNA, presented the “Positio super scriptis” to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which was followed by a decree of approval.
After the promulgation of the new regulations on the Causes of Canonization, in 1984, the Bishop of Eger instructed a “super continuatione famae sanctitatis Servi Dei” process; while in the meantime, Friar Ernesto PIACENTINI collected new documents in Hungary. The documents were later kept at the Postulation in the Capitular archive of Alba Julia.
In 2018, the cause was resumed and the current Postulator General, Friar Damian PĂTRAŞCU, has been working on the Positio, together with an external collaborator, Doctor Maurizio CANCELLI.
Friar Damian-Gheorghe PĂTRAŞCU
