Stephen Pongracz was born in Alvincz Castle in Principality of Transylvania, entered the Society of Jesus in 1602, and studied in Bohemia and Austria.

He had been ordained for four years when he was sent to Kassa, Kingdom of Hungary, (today Košice, Slovakia) with fellow Jesuit Melchior Grodziecki.

[1] The two Jesuits were working in small towns when they heard the news that a Calvinist army was marching on Kassa in an attempt to expand the territory of Gabriel Bethlen, prince of Transylvania.

The Transylvanian army took control of the city on 5 September 1619, and immediately confined the three priests to the Jesuit residence.

Before dawn on 7 September, soldiers broke into their quarters and demanded that they apostatize and accept Calvinism.