[Translated from the Hungarian Udvarhelyi iskolámhoz by Ferenc Szemlér.]
To my school in Odorhei
Should they ask: / where did your journey begin? — name this / school / here! / — which may have had problems and faults / but let no accusation / fall upon her, / for your roots and trunk have her / to thank, / that they lived and bred.
It stands on the hills of Udvarhely where / the Romans halted, / with arms swarming in blazing brilliance. / Where from under the Harghita’s / snow-capped mounts / and forests / Prince Csaba descended. / Where the harsh / present always faced the poor, / and where among his deadly woes / spun gripping rebel tales / wishing and struggling for the future / not the legendary but the real Szekler.
Scroll through the old registry, / where your name’s been standing for years / but where your dazed eyes see for centuries / back to the page / beginning with the name of Matthias Sámbár*, / and your sinking / heart cannot feel the difference between / spring and fall, / the present and past.
These long-gone educators raised you / and raise you still. / Your soul retains their word, / though their names may escape your memory. / But they gave you insight, education / with late lips, yet immortally, / and though you've heard myriad words since, / your heart still learns from them.
Ancient halls, professors turning into dust, / may I offer you a rare salute! — / for the world turns differently now, / and we search the path of / solar systems, and trifle with / splitting the atom, / but I still acknowledge you for / what is due, / for you’ve been treading the way / for centuries before us.
Soon I’ll be one of you / — though fear may choke, there’s no doubt about it! / like your other disciples, / the myriad struggling, poor / yet resolute Szeklers. / And should the young willow sprout over me, / teach me again, / that the sound of my crumbling lips / may educate and encourage the people, / like you’ve been from beyond the grave / exhorting, educating, and teaching me and them / through decades into centuries / a brilliant voice to this day: Yours!
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There is no reliable data on the formation of this gymnasium [secondary school]. Its founding is attributed to Jesuit monks. In 1689 there was a thriving 5-grade school here, which was attended not only by students from the #SzeklerLand but also from other parts of #Transylvania. In 1736 András Patai, Jesuit abbot and school director, also established the rhetoric and poetry class. In 1743, when pupils came here due to closing of the school in Cluj-Napoca because of the plague, the student body grew to 228. In 1773, when the Jesuits were outed, the local dean [Roman Catholic priest who supervises one district of a diocese] acted as a schoolmaster, and secular volunteers conducted the school's teaching. Following the [Hungarian] revolution of 1848/9, until 1850, the school was closed, after which it was reopened, as a result of lengthy insistence and encouragement, and it grew into a major, 8-grade secondary school. Gymn. Literature 1857/8 – Translated from the Hungarian original in Balázs Orbán: The Description of the Szekler Land from Historical, Archaeological, Natural and Folklore Aspects. #education #STEAM
* Matthias Sámbár, Jesuit priest; 2nd founder and school administrator between 1651-53
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