Crown of St. Stephen, King of Hungary
“In the fourth year after his father’s death, encouraged by divine grace, (Stephen) sent Bishop Asherik…so that he may ask the heir of St. Peter, prince of the apostles, to send his copious blessings to the first fruits of Christianity blossoming in the parts of Pannonia… to grant him the favour of fortifying him with a royal crown so that supported by this honour, he might consolidate more firmly what he had begun through the grace of God.
Crown, Sword and Globus Cruciger of Hungary
“It was at this time that Mieszko, prince of the Poles, received the Christian faith with his people and sending emissaries to the occupant of the See of Rome, asked to be supported with apostolic blessing and to be crowned with a royal diadem. The pope agreed to his request and had a crown of singular beauty made which he intended to send him with his blessing and the glorious rank of royalty. But since the Lord knows who are His own…so He decided that He would rather adorn His chosen one, Stephen….
Therefore on the appointed day on which the crown already prepared was to be sent to the prince of the Poles, or rather the previous night, the envoy of God appeared to the pope in a vision and said: ‘You should know that tomorrow, in the first hour of the day, emissaries of an unknown nation will come to you who will demand from you a royal crown for their prince, along with the gift of the apostolic blessing. The crown then which you had made you should not hesitate to send to their prince according to their request. For you should know that he is entitled to it together with the glorious rank of royalty by reason of the worthiness of his life.’”
Anthony Endrey, The Holy Crown of Hungary (Melbourne: The Hungarian Institute, 1977), 3-4.
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 512
