The grave of Antal Barna, a Reformed pastor and soldier of 1848-49

Antal Barna was born on April 24, 1828 in Horkán (now Gömörhorka, SK) into the family of István Barna, a nobleman from Möllet. His father, who was a landowner, married Zsuzsanna Ablonczi, a noblewoman from Szuha, in 1827, and six children were born from this marriage, the first of which was Antal. After graduating from high school, the young man began to study theology, but was forced to interrupt his studies due to the intervention of events. ; He was barely twenty years old when the War of Independence broke out in 1848. He quickly joined it. He fought with weapons in hand in defense of the homeland, which was attacked from all sides. In October 1848, he was a member of the Pelsőc company of the Mobile National Guard Battalion of Gömör County, in which the poet Mihály Tompa served as a camp chaplain. The national guards of Horka, Lekenye and Páskaháza were assigned to this company. He took part in the battle of Schwechat, which was lost to the Hungarians. He was wounded and from November 10, 1848, he fell ill in the military hospital in Bratislava. He then joined the military and fought throughout the war of independence. In 1849, after the Russian invasion and the surrender of Világos, he joined the guerrillas. In September of the same year, the Slovak free troops occupied Gömör. The units of Jozef Miloslav Hurban, led by the Polish baron Henrik Lewartowski, gradually eliminated the guerrilla resistance. Antal Barna was captured by the Slovaks on October 7, 1849, along with eighteen others. They were all handed over to the Austrian authorities and transported to the military headquarters in the Košice district. In retaliation, the imperial corps commander and military judge Bordolo threw him into prison. ; After his release, he completed his theological studies. In 1855, he settled in Körtvélyes as a pastor. From his marriage to Pap Terézia, he had one child: Antal, in 1858. Having lost his first wife, he married a second time, marrying Matild Lux in 1867. He worked as a regular pastor in Körtvélyes until his retirement, but occasionally served elsewhere. For example, he administered the oath to Gyula Lükő Horkán and Mária Barna in 1866, Kálmán Lükő and widow Erzsébet Jánosík in 1870, and his widowed landowner brother Pál Barna and widow Mária Etel in 1885. His son Antal (1858) found work at the Veczki factory in Horka, where he married Mária Barna, the daughter of the industrialist (csizmadia) Pál Barna and Borbála Balog, in 1886. Antal Barna also took care of Gyula Barna (1857–1926) [5], who was born of the marriage of János Barna (1834–1918) and Julianna Szokolay (1838–1871), and perhaps under his influence also chose the ministry as his profession. In the final stages of his life, between 1898 and 1926, the latter served in Disznóshorváti (today Izsófalva), where he is buried next to his wife, Vilma Fejes. ; He died on 29 October 1900. His faithful wife followed him a year later. Both are buried in Gömörhorka. ; ; A headstone was erected next to the graves of Antal Barna and Matild Lux in 1999, where a memorial ceremony with wreath-laying is held every year on March 15th in honor of the 1848/49 War of Independence. ; ; Compiled by: Sándor Ambrus (2012)