THEOLOGICAL PRINTS AS A CULTURAL PARTICULARITY OF THE ARISTOCRATIC LIBRARY IN VODERADY WITH A FOCUS ON PÉTER PÁZMÁNY’S PRAYER BOOK AND ITS DIDACTIC IMPORTANCE

The objective of this contribution is the presentation and analysis of the theological assemblage of the aristocratic library in Voderady, which, from a historical viewpoint, represented an important collection of period prints. According to the period catalogue Catalogus Vedroniensis 1894, it initially contained as many as twelve thousand works divided into 19 thematic groups, listed over 532 pages based on the catalogue system common of the time. The aggregate of theological treatises contains several dozen interesting works in multiple languages, which testifies to a considerable degree of open-mindedness from the Zichy family, in religious and confessional issues among others. From the 83 theological works in the Voderady library, we intend to call attention to one of the most published works of Péter Pázmány, published both during his lifetime and after his death: Christian Prayer Book2 (Pécs 1853), and analyse its literary and linguistic parameters to reveal interesting didactic and humanistic elements that go back to the ancient rhetorical tradition.