This special manuscript collection containing nearly one thousand eight hundred Our Father prayers can be found at inventory number 29469 in the Veszprém Archiepiscopal Library.
The extraordinary collection was compiled by Kálmán Kertész. This scholarly priest was born as Kálmán Kollarik in Zétény in 1878. He completed his grammar school studies in Kassa. In 1895 he was admitted to the Veszprém seminary, where he began to collect Our Father prayers as a student. Getting over to the central seminary in Budapest, he had a chance to access Bible translations, catechisms and linguistic works of different languages. By purchasing language books in second-hand bookshops, he could further enlarge his collection. He also asked for Our Father texts from the foreign students in the seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1901 and was located in Szulok as a chaplain. Being a priest in the countryside, he could extend his collection by correspondence. He kept in touch with missionary stations, embassies, linguists and priests. He could continue his collection as a military chaplain. He copied the variations of the prayer on separate sheets exactly marking the resources.
In 1925, his collection consisted of one thousand pieces, and he donated a decorated copy to Pope Pius XI. This event was mentioned in the international press and a member of the British Bible society visited Kálmán Kertész, then a religious teacher in Balatonfüred, and studied his Our Father collection. He collected the Lord’s Prayer in various languages and dialects. Keeping track of the changes of living languages, he made his collection more and more comprehensive. His unwearying activities covered the artificial languages too. On 17 October 1934, he personally handed over to the pope the recently collected 379 versions of the Lord’s Prayer. He continued his research work until his death. In 1938, his collection contained 1727 prayer texts.
Kálmán Kertész was a nationally known figure of literary life. He also acted as a writer, journalist and translator. He did a significant work in the Young Men’s Catholic Association. He became the priest of Öskü in 1930. He wrote the history of the parish and renewed the rotunda according to the instructions of Kálmán Lux, an expert of the National Committee of Monuments. He died in Kassa in 1940.
The main work of his life, the Our Father collection was purchased for the library by Veszprém bishop Bertalan Badalik from Öskü’s parish priest József Miklós in 1953. Our library’s treasured asset is the manuscript collection stored in the wooden chest with the inscription PATER NOSTER.