István Mustos, Sch.P. (referred to as Stephen N. Mustos in American sources and as István Mustos of Nemesvámos in some Hungarian sources; Veszprém, August 10, 1931 – Székesfehérvár, April 20, 2008) was a Hungarian Roman Catholic priest, Piarist monk, teacher, school principal, and a prominent figure in the Hungarian Catholic pastoral ministry in the United States. He served for many years in the United States, serving as pastor of the St. Stephen Roman Catholic Hungarian Parish in Passaic from 1990 to 2007, and also served as the U.S. delegate for Attila Miklósházy, S.J., the bishop for Hungarians living abroad.

He was born in Veszprém and attended the local Piarist high school, where he graduated in 1947. He entered the Piarist Order on August 27, 1949; in 1950, he was still a novice in the order. After the suppression of the 1956 Revolution, he left Hungary in November. A contemporary order document has survived detailing the circumstances of his escape: According to a letter dated December 3, 1956, from Johann Schmidt, the Austrian Piarist Provincial Superior, he fled Hungary together with Piarist Jenő Mustos Török and then traveled to Rome with István Divald. The letter also indicates that General Vince Tomek intended to prepare some of the Hungarian Piarists who had fled abroad to strengthen the Order’s work in Austria and the United States.

He continued his studies in Rome, where he earned a degree in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He took his perpetual vows on November 3, 1957, and was ordained a priest in Rome on April 20, 1958. In 1959, he moved to the United States, where he joined the efforts of fellow members of the order working to establish an independent American Piarist province.

During the early years of his ministry in the United States, he served and taught in Washington, D.C., and later in Derby and Buffalo, New York. He earned a teaching certification in mathematics and physics from Canisius College in Buffalo in 1966; a biographical note published in 1992 as part of his own study confirms this fact. He subsequently worked at Devon Preparatory School in Pennsylvania. From 1969 to 1987, for eighteen years, he served as the school’s headmaster. Under his leadership, the institution’s academic reputation and financial standing both strengthened. During his tenure, he was elected four times as assistant provincial superior of the American Piarist Province, and he also participated in the work of the College Board as a representative of Devon Prep.

In addition to his work at the school and within the order, he took on an increasingly significant role in the pastoral care of the Hungarian community in the United States. In 1985, he was elected president of the association of Hungarian priests serving on the East Coast of the United States. His activities were not limited to his own parishes: for example, according to recollections of the Hungarian Catholic community in Washington, D.C., he alternated with Domonkos Csorba, OFM, in celebrating Mass for the community.

In 1987, he stepped down from his position as head of Devon Preparatory School and served at St. Stephen’s Church in Trenton until 1990. In August 1990, he was assigned to St. Stephen’s Hungarian Parish in Passaic, New Jersey, where he became the parish’s ninth pastor on October 7, 1990. According to the parish’s historical summary, his arrival breathed new life into the parish community. One of his key initiatives was the renovation of the former convent building: its chapel was adapted for the celebration of daily Masses, the building was named after Saint Elizabeth of the House of Árpád, and it was also used to house children from Hungary who were recovering from heart surgery.

In addition to his ministry in Passaic, he served as the American delegate for Bishop Attila Miklósházy, S.J. In this capacity, he regularly visited Hungarian Catholic communities in the United States and participated in their church life on behalf of the bishop. He also served as chaplain for the North American region of the Hungarian Order of Malta. An important goal of his work was to ensure, as far as possible, that Hungarian-language Catholic pastoral care remained available to Hungarians living scattered across the United States.

In addition to his pastoral work, he was also active as a writer and lecturer. In 1990, at the request of the Széchenyi Society of New York, he gave a lecture on István Széchenyi, and later that same year, he also spoke at the Hungarian Gathering in Cleveland. He also presented a revised version of his study on October 19, 1991, at the centennial general assembly of the Eötvös Loránd Physical Society in Hungary; his article, titled “The Timeliness of István Széchenyi,” was published in *Fizikai Szemle* in 1992.

Due to his deteriorating health, he returned to Hungary in 2007, where he lived in a retirement home for priests. He passed away on April 20, 2008, at the age of 76, in Székesfehérvár. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Piarist Province of the United States. His funeral was held on May 14, 2008, in Budapest, in the Piarist section of the New Public Cemetery; according to the order’s records, his grave is marked 8/2.

Liturgikus elmélkedések a Magyar Katolikusok Vasárnapjában