Maria Theresa

13. Moreover, the cooperation of nation and Church is shown by those commendations, neither few nor faint, with which this Apostolic See has honored your people, and likewise by the extraordinary titles of honor and privileges which it has given to your kings. We desire, however, and it is completely suited to the present celebration-to produce a glorious page from the long official document in which Clement XIII, in accordance with his power, confirmed to Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary, and to her successors in the same kingdom, the title of Apostolic King. That title was to supersede previous privilege and custom. So as their fathers and grandfathers have already done, let the grandchildren themselves rejoice in this Papal proclamation: "The flourishing Kingdom of Hungary has been accurately considered the best fitted of all for extending the boundaries of Christian authority and glory, both by reason of the bravery of a most intrepid nation and the nature of its territories. And indeed, everyone knows the Hungarians' many outstanding deeds for the protection and expansion of Our religion. They have often engaged in battle with terrible enemies; by blocking as with their own bodies the advance of the same enemies, who were bent on destroying the Christian state, they wrested great victories from them. These famous events have been published in well-known literary works. But We can in no way pass over in silence Stephan, that most holy and brave King of Hungary, consecrated with heavenly honors and placed among the number of the Saints. The imprint of his virtue, his holiness, and his bravery survives in your country to the eternal praise of the Hungarian name. And all his successors in the kingship have at all times imitated his beautiful examples of virtue. So it should seem strange to no one that the Roman pontiffs have always honored with great praises and privileges the Hungarian nation and its leaders and kings for their outstanding services to the Catholic faith and the Roman See. The principal mark of honor, of course, is the right to have the Cross carried in front of the kings in public procession as the most shining symbol of the Apostolate; this is in order to show that the Hungarian nation and its kings glory only in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ and that in this sign, they are accustomed always to fight for the Catholic faith and to be victorious."²