He graduated with honors from the Piarist High School in Budapest, where his religion teacher was Sándor Sík, and then continued his studies at the Faculty of Theology of Pázmány Péter University, where he earned a doctorate in theology in 1925. From 1926 to 1929, he pursued advanced theological studies at the Pontifical Collegium Angelicum in Rome and earned a doctorate in philosophy. In 1933, he was appointed as a private lecturer at the Faculty of Theology of Pázmány Péter University. From 1935, he was a first-class member of the St. Stephen Academy and secretary of the Society of St. Thomas Aquinas. In 1945, he was appointed papal chamberlain; in 1949, he left the country after the state security services unsuccessfully attempted to recruit him, and the threat of reprisals loomed over him. He served as a monastery chaplain in Austria for a year, then emigrated to Canada. In 1970, he became a papal prelate. Even at the age of 80, he went on ski trips to the nearby mountains, and right up until last winter, he diligently chopped and cut down the dried-out trees in the forest where his small hermitage was nestled. His brother István was a Franciscan friar known as Fr. Ervin. He passed away on the eve of the 59th anniversary of his ordination after a brief illness.
Domestic service locations
From
To
Place i
Current name, country i
Church / institution
Position
1929
1939
Esztergom, Kingdom of Hungary
Hungary
Papnevelő Intézet
prefect, philosophy teacher
1939
1949
Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary
Hungary
Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetem Hittudományi Kar
Full professor in the Department of Moral Theology; dean of the Faculty of Theology from 1945 to 1946
Foreign service locations
From
To
Place
Current name, country
Church / institution
Position
1949
Austria
convent chaplain
1950
1969
Québec, QC, Canada
Laval University
Ethics teacher; from 1956 to 1957, he taught metaphysics and the history of philosophy at Ursuline’s College in Quebec; Hungarian pastor
1967
1970
Wakefield, QC, Canada
Mount St. Joseph College
Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Religion
1970
1973
Worthington, OH, USA
Collegium Josephinum
guest speaker
1970
1980
Providence, RI, USA
seminar instructor and lecturer at a women’s college in Wakefield, RI, USA, while also serving as an assistant pastor in the Hungarian church
1980
1983
USA
retired, currently serving as an assistant pastor
Literary activity
Szent Gellért emlékkv. (Bp., 1938: Szt Gellért teológiájaja);
Scientitis et artibus 1958 (Les principes premiers et secondaires de la loi naturelle);
Revue de l'Université Laval (1959: Les exigences de la morale chrétienne; 1968:
A pragmatizmus bírálata különös tekintettel William James-re. Budapest, 1922.
Ethica secundum Sanctum Thomam et Kant. Roma, 1931.
Aquinói Szent Tamás Summa theologicája a tomizmus történetében. Budapest, 1935.
A kamat-kérdés erkölcstudományi megoldása. Budapest, 1938.
A világegyetem bölcselete. Többekkel. Budapest, 1938.
Isten bölcseleti megismerése. Többekkel. Budapest, 1939.
Theologia moralis iuxta praelectionesquas habebat. Budapest, 1941.
Krisztus, a ker. életeszmény. Budapest, 1941.
Politika és erkölcs. Budapest, 1941.
Szent Gellért. Budapest, 1941. (Hősök és szentek-sorozat)
Ibrányi Ferenc József, Msgr., dr: personal record. In: Historical directory of Hungarian, Hungarian-descended, and Hungarian-speaking clergy serving abroad. Available at: https://www.diaszporalelkipasztorok.hu/persons_v2/view.php?id=448 (accessed: 2026-07-07).
Last modified: May 23, 2026 14:13 |
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