Kassa, Csehszlovákia, currently Košice, Slovakia — February 3, 1922
Death data:
Pickering, ON, Canada — December 5, 2023
Denomination:
Roman Catholic
Ecclesiastical status:
religious
Diocese / Order:
jezsuita (Societas Jesu)
Ordination level:
priest
Entry into religious life:
Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary, currently Hungary — September 2, 1940
Perpetual vows:
St. Asaph, United Kingdom — August 15, 1954
Priestly ordination:
Chieri, Italy — July 15, 1951
Biographical data
His two brothers, István and Pál Jaschkó, were also Jesuits, and his sister Hermina, who passed away at the age of 106, was a nun in the Society of the Sacred Heart. He had a total of eight siblings. He completed his elementary and high school studies in Košice. In 1937, he applied to the Slovak Jesuit Province but was rejected at that time, with the recommendation that he first finish high school. He entered the order in Budapest on September 2, 1940. He completed his novitiate at Manréza, followed by his studies in rhetoric, and from 1944 he studied philosophy in Košice. Between 1945 and 1947, he completed his second and third years of philosophy in Brno with the Czech Jesuits. In 1949, he began his theological studies in Szeged, which he continued in Innsbruck in the spring of 1949 after fleeing abroad, and then in Chieri (Turin, Italy) between 1950 and 1951. He was ordained a priest in Chieri on July 15, 1951. In 1952, he earned a licentiate in theology. He completed his tertianship in St. Asaph (Wales, Great Britain) and took his final vows on August 15, 1954. His order then assigned him to ministry in North America. In 1986, he took a three-month biblical course in Jerusalem, after which he visited Mother Teresa in Calcutta; he also served as a volunteer at the home for the dying. From there, he traveled to join Hungarian missionaries in the Far East, including his older brother, István Jaschkó, who had founded two institutions in Taiwan for children with intellectual disabilities. In 1989, he participated in the founding of the Hungarian Church History Encyclopedia Working Group (METEM) and assumed the role of president. From 1995, he served as a member of the board of directors of the St. Elizabeth Home Society in Hamilton, and later as its president. In 2017, the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference awarded him the Pro Ecclesia Hungariae Prize, and on March 15, 2018, he received the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary in recognition of his nearly half-century of service among Hungarians living in the United States.
Foreign service locations
From
To
Place
Current name, country
Church / institution
Position
1948
Szatmárnémeti, Romania
Satu Mare
Master’s degree (expelled after two months)
1949
1952
Chieri, Italy
pursuing studies
1953
St. Asaph, United Kingdom
third
1953
1954
Hamilton, ON, Canada
assistant pastor, provincial secretary
1955
Montreál, QC, Canada
L’Immaculée Conception
Editor of the Szív magazine
1956
1970
Jersey City, NJ, USA
St. Peter Preparatory School
Religion, Latin, and French teacher; swim team coach; chess club director
Jaschkó Balázs SJ: 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=477 (accessed: 2026-07-07).
Last modified: June 5, 2026 11:06 |
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