Church of St. Stephen Harding in Apátistvánfalva

The Church of St. Stephen Harding in Apátistvánfalva or Apátistvánfalvian Church (Hungarian: Apátistvánfalvai Harding Szent István templom, Slovene: Cerkev Svetega Štefana v Števanovci Prekmurje dialect: Števanovska cerkev Svétoga Števana Hardinga) is a Baroque Roman Catholic Church in the village of Apátistvánfalva (Števanovci), Hungary. It is near the Hungarian-Slovenian border, in the Vendvidék region. Its patron saint Stephen Harding was an English saint and the founder of the Cistercian Order.

Because this area is traditionally ethnically Slovenian, in the past mass was offered only in Prekmurje Slovenian. Today mass is offered in Hungarian and in the local Prekmurje Slovenian dialect.

The church was built in 1785. The bishop of Vas, János Szily, aided in the construction and also supported building a school in the village. The first priest was János Marits. The new parish included Permise (now Kétvölgy), Börgölin/Újbalázsfalva (now Apátistvánfalva), Orfalu, Rábatótfalu (now Szentgotthárd), Szakonyfalu, and sometimes Markovci, now in Slovenia.

By the 12th century, Apátistvánfalva was a Cistercian lordship. In 1183 Béla III of Hungary founded a Cistercian abbey in Szentgotthárd. The monks arrived from the Trois-Fontaines Abbey, Champagne, France.

...
Wikipedia