Church of St John the Apostle and Bishop St Liborius

In the Middle Ages, there were several villages on the site of today’s Nagyszentjános. These were destroyed by the Turks and then farms were established on the ruins of the former villages. One of the farms, Nagyszentjános, became a stop on the Budapest to Győr railway. The railway brought it back to life: a distillery and siding were built, and then workers’ houses were built in succession. The increasingly populated settlement became an independent municipality in 1990. In the absence of a church, its inhabitants gathered in one of the classrooms of the school for mass, called by a bell cast in 1938. The modern church was completed in 1999 with German support, as a result of Father Paul Kaiser’s fundraising efforts. The building, constructed based on the plans of Sándor Horváth, was consecrated by the Archbishop of Paderborn and Bishop Lajos Pápai in honour of St Liborius and St John. The relics of Bishop Liborius, who lived in 4th century Gallia, have been preserved in Paderborn Cathedral since 836. Liborius has been the patron saint of the German diocese for nearly 1,200 years and, since 1999 (together with John the Apostle), the patron saint of Nagyszentjános too. Wooden sculptures of the two patron saints stand on either side of the
sanctuary. The interior is spacious and bright, surrounded by white walls, wooden at the top and stone at the bottom, and with numerous windows. The tabernacle, altar and cross, made from fine materials, are in the centre, so there is nothing else to distract your attention. The foyer of the modern building also boasts traditional religious works (painting of the Good Shepherd, statue of Mary).

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