Father Emeric Szlezak, O.F.M.

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Father Emeric Szlezak, O.F.M., who served as parochial vicar at St. Stephen of Hungary parish in Manhattan for more than four decades, died March 16 in St. Petersburg, Fla. He was 101.

Father Szlezak, who was born in Hungary, primarily served the Hungarian community at the parish for 42 years until 1986. The church is now part of the combined parish of St. Monica, St. Stephen of Hungary and St. Elizabeth of Hungary.

Father Szlezak was a professed Franciscan friar for 79 years and a priest for 74 years. He was the longest-living friar in the history of the Franciscans’ Holy Name Province, and he resided in St. Petersburg for the final 14 years of his life.

After World War II and again after the Hungarian Revolution in the 1950s, he assisted displaced refugees and struggling immigrants in New York. For 30 years, Father Szlezak gave weekly sermons in his native Hungarian language for a New York radio station. He also served as a chaplain to Catholic War Veterans on the state and national levels, and to area sheriff’s departments.

He served at a parish in Fairfield, Conn., 1986-2005.

Born in Budapest, Hungary, he entered the Order of Friars Minor in 1938 and professed final vows in 1942. He was ordained in 1944.

Father Szlezak is survived by his brother, Emery.

A Funeral Mass was offered March 22 at St. Mary Our Lady of Grace Church in St. Petersburg. Burial was at Calvary Cemetery in Clearwater, Fla.

Father Emeric Szlezak, O.F.M.