Rev. Victor Alexander von Kubinyi
For unknown reasons, Kubinyi decided to go to America and arrived in New York City on 17 June 1906, settling initially in Hoboken, New Jersey. From 1906 to 1909 he served as a priest in a Catholic Church in South River. In 1909, he published a book titled The King of Rome, a biography of the pope, but his dissatisfaction with the church had begun to grow. He moved to New York City briefly in 1910 and became curate of St. Nicholas Church, where he was enumerated on the census. Later that year, however, he returned to New Jersey to serve a church in Newark and remained until 1911.
At the request of a group of disaffected Catholics in South Bend, Indiana, Kubinyi moved there in 1912 to offer his leadership in the midst of a local schism. These former members of St. Stephen's Hungarian Roman Catholic Church had set themselves against the Catholic bishop, Herman J. Alerding, who had dissolved the church's board of trustees in April 1911. Rioting had ensued as had threats to burn down the church. Aldering closed the church temporarily and eventually replaced its unpopular pastor, Fr. Froehlich, with a new priest, Fr. Louis Kovacs, but the troubles continued, including threats on the lives of the priests. Desperate to escape the situation, Kovacs exchanged pulpits with Fr. Alexander Varlaky of Pennsylvania in April 1912.
Kubinyi, in the meantime, gained the support of most of the disaffected members of St. Stephen's. His supporters asked Alerding to appoint him to St. Stephen's, but the bishop refused, denying Kubinyi access to Catholic facilities. Facing widespread criticism and slander for his move to South Bend from several Hungarian-American newspapers, Kubinyi denied he was any longer a Roman priest and began building a new church of his own on the southwest side of the city known as Sacred Heart Independent Catholic Church. Alerding excommunicated Kubinyi and all Catholics who had left St. Stephen's.
In 1913, Kubinyi announced the formation of a new church, the Hungarian National Church, and in association with it, was consecrated a bishop, though the leaders of Sacred Heart had refused the use of their facility for the consecration. Undeterred, he gave an address in the local opera house on 4 May 1913 titled "True Religion," declaring himself a Hungarian Catholic and likening his new church affiliation, the so-called American Catholic Church, to the Episcopal, Orthodox, and Old Order Catholic churches. The American Catholic Church had no such apostolic legacy, however. It had been founded by the self-styled Bishop Joseph Rene Vilatte, whose consecration had been declared invalid by Rome. In the highly-charged atmosphere of the Hungarian immigrant community, the new church was seen as a viable alternative to Catholicism, though Vilatte's spurious credentials were questioned by many as was Kubinyi's own consecration. In June 1913, Kubinyi was consecrated again as a bishop, this time by Archbishop-Primate Arnold Harris Mathew of the Old Catholic Church of Great Britain.
None of these consecrations had proved satisfactory to Kubinyi himself, and by December 1913, he had renounced his ministry in the American Catholic Church and turned to Bishop John Hazen White for ordination as an Episcopal priest. Heartened by the attention, White received him in a ceremony in St. James Episcopal Church on 7 December 1913 and was impressed by his connections and ability. By the end of the month White placed him as priest-in-charge of the new Church of the Holy Trinity, an experiment of sorts in missionary outreach to a non-English immigrant community. It was often nicknamed the "Trinity Hungarian Mission."
Kubinyi stayed at Holy Trinity for several years, helping to build up the congregation among his followers. He wrote several books and received White's permission to translate part of the Book of Common Prayer into Hungarian in 1915. He married Florence Marie Telmany in New York City on 25 April 1916. By 1918, however, Kubinyi's relationship with Bishop White had soured. He renounced his ministry in the Episcopal Church on 23 September and was deposed by Bishop White on 15 November. White called Kubinyi's defection a betrayal and "one of the most severe blows of my Episcopate." He charged the priest with borrowing $10,000 in both small and large sums from members of the congregation who could ill afford to lend it and then "went off and left them to shift for themselves."
Whether or not he was guilty of theft, Kubinyi had decided to return to the American Catholic Church and resume his office as bishop. He and his wife moved to the Bronx, where he continued to write and to take up painting. His creations became known as "psychographs." In October 1924, he was installed as Ordinary of the Eastern Atlantic States of the American Catholic Church in St. Illuminator's Armenian Apostolic Cathedral. A month later he was installed in yet another ceremony as a member of the Cathedral Chapter of the African Orthodox Church.
Within a year, however, Kubinyi again renounced the American Catholic Church and moved to Washington, D.C. On 13 May 1925, he was consecrated in the North American Old Roman Catholic Church. By 1930 he was divorced and living in Manhattan. He was consecrated in the Chaldean Catholic Church in 1932, but he continued to make enemies within the national Hungarian-American community. About 1937, a book was published titled Wanted: Fugitive from Justice, Victor de Kubinyi, alias Hungarian Bluebeard, Ex-priest, Ex-bishop, new Fugitive from Justice under Criminal Indictment for Forgery and Embezzlement.
Kubinyi returned to Hungary before World War II, but he died on a visit to the United States on 17 September 1966.
Victor von Kubinyi correspondence file 1
Victor von Kubinyi correspondence file 2
Victor von Kubinyi correspondence file 3
Victor von Kubinyi correspondence file 4
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