Mátyás Láni, a Roman Catholic priest, pastor of the Diocese of Csanád, and founder and first pastor of the Hungarian Catholic community in Los Angeles. He was one of the most prominent figures in Hungarian Catholic ministry on the West Coast, serving the Hungarian community in Southern California for nearly three decades. In addition to his pastoral work, he was actively involved in church music and played an important role in Hungarian relief and refugee efforts during World War II and the years that followed.

He was ordained a priest in Timișoara on November 26, 1921. He began his priestly ministry in the Diocese of Csanád: from 1921 to 1922 in Bacova, in 1923 he served as an assistant pastor in Temesrékás (Recaș), and then from 1924 to 1925 he served as a parish priest in Versec (now Vršac, Serbia), which was part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.

In 1926, he emigrated to the United States, where he first served at the Hungarian St. Stephen Parish in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Two years later, at the invitation of Bishop Michael J. Cantwell of Los Angeles, he moved to California to organize an independent parish for the Hungarian Catholics living there.

He arrived in Los Angeles in 1928, where he founded the St. Stephen Roman Catholic Parish. He celebrated the first Hungarian-language Masses in a Polish church, and then organized religious instruction and a summer school for Hungarian children. As a result of his tireless organizational efforts, a plot of land was purchased in 1930, and the church, rectory, and community hall were built that same year. The parish he led not only brought Hungarians together but also played a role in providing pastoral care for the Germans of the Banat region and the Spanish-speaking Catholics living in the area.

Mátyás Láni was also an outstanding church musician. After arriving in Los Angeles, he became the music teacher at St. Vibiana Cathedral, and in 1942 he was appointed the cathedral’s official choirmaster. He also put his musical knowledge to work in the service of the Hungarian community: he organized and led the parish choir and became a key figure in the parish’s community life. Hungarian plays and operettas were regularly staged in the cathedral’s ceremonial hall, playing an important role in preserving Hungarian identity.

During his tenure as parish priest, the Hungarian community in Los Angeles developed into one of the most significant West Coast centers of the Hungarian diaspora in the United States. Several Hungarian clergymen visited the community: in 1933, Dominican friars Kornél Böhle and Bertalan Badalik led a retreat, and in 1937, Bishop Lajos Shvoy of Székesfehérvár paid them a visit.

During World War II, the parish became an important humanitarian center. In 1944, the American Hungarian Relief Action was founded here, which sent nearly a quarter of a million dollars in funds and relief shipments to Hungary. After the war, the parish also played a significant role in receiving and supporting Hungarian refugees arriving from European refugee camps. By 1953, some four hundred Hungarian Catholic families belonged to the Los Angeles parish.

It also played an important role in organizing the religious life of the Hungarian émigré community in other areas. In 1949, when the first Hungarian Piarists arrived in North America, Mátyás Láni welcomed and assisted them in Los Angeles. A novitiate was also established around the fledgling community, which later became one of the starting points for the Hungarian Piarist mission in the United States.

Mátyás Láni passed away on November 19, 1954, in Los Angeles, after twenty-six years of uninterrupted service. He was buried at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles. Following his death, English-speaking parish priests took over the leadership of the parish, while the Hungarian pastoral ministry was continued by József Nagy, Achilles Edelényi, Vendel Semjén, József Laczkovits, Gergely Dénes, Patrik Dalos, János Zsurkai, and Endre Szigeti.