Wife of former president awarded for charity work

Dalma Mádl, the wife of former Hungarian State President Ferenc Mádl, will be presented the Rose of St. Elisabeth (Szent Erzsébet Rózsája) award by the Catholic Church for her charitable work, according to a decision by the Hungarian Catholic Episcopal Conference (MKPK).

The award will be presented by Cardinal Primate Péter Erdő in Sárospatak on Sunday, at the closing ceremony of the jubilee year to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Elisabeth (1207-1231). Elisabeth was well known for her generosity to the disadvantaged.

Károly Nagy, director of the national charity organization Országos Karitász, said that Mádl had worked to help the needy long before she was made a "goodwill ambassador" for the Catholic charity organization when her husband became president. She was a patron for a needy Roma family and donated presents to the school of a poor village along the Tisza River. As goodwill ambassador, she visited flood-stricken areas in Romania and Hungary and helped locals, and regularly visited disabled children and helped serve food to the homeless at Easter and Christmas.

The Rose of St. Elisabeth award is a bronze medal designed by sculptor Katalin Pálffy and depicts a rose on its front and the name of the award and the recipient on the back.

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