Blessed László Batthyány-Strattmann

Blessed László Batthyány-Strattmann was a Hungarian prince, a husband and the father of thirteen children, and an eye doctor, known as the doctor of the poor, whom he treated without payment in the hospitals he founded. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on January 22, the day of his death.

He was born on October 28, 1870, in Dunakiliti, Hungary, the sixth child of an old Hungarian noble family. In 1876 the family moved to Kittsee, which today lies in Austria. When László was twelve, his mother died. He felt this deeply and often said that he would become a doctor and treat the sick poor free of charge.

His father wanted his son to manage the family estate, so László first took up agricultural studies in Vienna. He began to study medicine there in 1896 and received his medical degree in 1900. While still a student, on November 10, 1898, he married Countess Maria Theresia Coreth, a woman of deep faith. The whole family attended Holy Mass every day. Afterward the father gave the children a short lesson in the faith and assigned each of them a good deed for that day, and in the evening, after praying the Rosary together, they talked over the day that had passed.

In 1902 he founded a private hospital with 25 beds in Kittsee, which during the First World War was enlarged to 120 beds in order to treat wounded soldiers. From a general practitioner he became a surgeon and, in time, above all an eye doctor. In 1915 he inherited from a deceased relative the castle of Körmend in Hungary, the title of prince, and the name Strattmann. In 1920 he moved there with his family and set up a hospital in one wing of the castle, mainly for eye diseases.

He treated the poor free of charge. As payment for their treatment and their stay in the hospital he asked them to pray an Our Father for him. He also paid for their medicines. Before an operation he prayed with the patient for God’s blessing, for he held that the doctor only directs the operation, while healing is a gift of God. To those leaving the hospital he gave a holy card and a booklet, “Open Your Eyes and See,” which was meant to help them in their religious life.

At the age of sixty he fell ill with a tumor of the bladder and was admitted to the Löw Sanatorium in Vienna. He bore fourteen months of severe suffering patiently. He confided to his sister that he was happy: he was suffering atrociously, yet he loved his sufferings and was consoled to know that he bore them for Christ. He died in Vienna on January 22, 1931, with a reputation for holiness. He was buried in the family tomb in Güssing.

The beatification process was opened in 1944 and, after years of oblivion, resumed in 1982. Pope John Paul II beatified László on March 23, 2003, in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome. He said on that occasion that the new blessed had used the rich inheritance of his family to treat the poor free of charge and to build two hospitals, and that he drew his spiritual strength from the Eucharist. The prince’s motto was “Fidelitate et caritate,” that is, “In fidelity and charity.”