Fr. Francis C. Turmezei Papers

Fr. Francis Charles Turmezei was born Ferenz-Karoly Volarics on September 27, 1910, in Budapest, Hungary.  (His last name was formally changed from Volarics to Turmezei in 1938.)  He attended Gymnasium No. 8 in Budapest, graduating with a BA degree in 1929.  Turmezei then attended the Diocese of Szeksfehervar Seminary in Hungary where was ordained into the priesthood on June 18, 1933.

After his ordination, Turmezei remained in Szeksfehervar to teach grade school religion courses until 1941. He returned to Budapest in 1941 to attend the Hungarian Royal Cardinal Peter Pazmany University.  He completed his course work toward a Ph.L. in the Philosophy of Education in the spring of 1944 but was called to serve in the Hungarian armed services before he could complete his oral examinations.  He served as a chaplain in military hospitals in Hungary and Germany from July 1944 until April 1945 and in POW camps following Germany’s surrender.  After his release from the POW camp in November 1945, Turmezei traveled to Paris. There he studied at the Institut Catholic where he earned a Diploma in Religious education in 1948.

While still in France in October 1948, Turmezei met Fr. Louis Gales of the St. Paul, MN-based Catholic Digest. Fr. Gales secured an invitation from Archbishop Gregory Murray for Fr. Turmezei to travel to and work in the Archdiocese of St. Paul.  He arrived in St. Paul in May 1949 and served as a chaplain at Anker Hospital while he studied for an MA in Curriculum Methods (1952) at the University of Minnesota.  In the fall of 1952, he entered the Ph.D. program in the Philosophy of Education at Fordham University, earning his degree in 1958.

In 1957, Turmezei returned to St. Paul to teach in the Education Department of the College of St. Thomas.  He taught comparative education and curriculum development courses until his retirement in 1976.  The Saint Paul Seminary engaged Fr. Turmezei from 1959-1968 to teach its religious education courses.

After years of absence from his home diocese in Hungary, Fr. Turmezei was formally incarnated into the Archdiocese of St. Paul in April 1965. He retired from teaching in May 1976 because of ill health and passed away on October 3, 1977.