Release date is 2026-01-13

Albert László from page images generously made available by the Hungarian Electronic Library

"Isten igájában II." by József Nyirő is a novel written in the early 20th century. Told by a village priest in Transylvania, it portrays the spiritual and physical devastation of World War I on peasants, wounded soldiers, and refugees, blending stark realism with fervent faith and moral inquiry. The focus is on a compassionate, combative pastor who shoulders his community’s suffering while confronting indifference and authority. Expect a vivid, unsparing panorama of Székely life under siege, threaded with moments of grace, fury, and resilience.

The opening of this portion follows the priest as he tends a village overrun by maimed veterans and exhausted women forced to plow and sow, only to see their crops shattered by a violent hailstorm during which a shell-shocked soldier charges into the storm crying “Sturm!” Desperate for bread, the priest storms a government official’s office and wrests a wagon of grain for his people. A friend’s comfortable parish tempts him, but the Romanian invasion triggers a mass evacuation; he remains briefly to strip the church of precious objects, consume and distribute the Eucharist in a solitary, reverent act, then sets out on foot among the refugees. He witnesses the vast, chaotic flight across the Hargita, the somlyói Madonna borne on a cart, and the grinding hunger and profiteering along the roads. Back home he shelters his first Székely flock, hears of sons lost to war, and watches Incze János descend into madness, telling a searing parable of two “holy fools” who kill each other while their hair is knotted together. Seeking to lift despair, he preaches an outdoor sermon of consolation and love that electrifies the crowd; soon after, he is denounced and confined to his parish, and the fearful village withdraws from him. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Szépmíves Céh, 1930