Vendel Endrédy

[1][2] He was the fourth of ten children and grew up in a farming family in the Hungarian county of Győr-Moson-Sopron.

He attended a school run by Benedictines in Győr and received the Cistercian habit at Zirc Abbey in 1917.

Endrédy studied theology, mathematics and physics; after receiving his teaching certificate in 1922 he became a teacher at the Cistercian school in Budapest.

Endrédy fled to Rome in November 1948 but soon returned to Hungary, fully aware that he would be incarcerated by the Communists.

Upon his return, he brought a message from Pope Pius XII to Kardinal Mindszenty, who had been placed under house arrest on December 26, 1948, and who had befriended Endredy.