Donald Hying, bishop of Madison, celebrated the feast day of St. Stephen of Hungary, one of several saints who served as a political leader who put the people’s interest first, on Tuesday.

As the Church celebrated St. Stephen, Hying listed a handful of saints who ruled nations.

“I thought of Margaret of Scotland, Elizabeth of Hungary, Casimir of Poland, Hedwig, Queen of Poland, Elizabeth of Portugal, Henry, who was king of Bavaria, Saint Louis, King of France, and today, Stephen — just some of our saints who were kings and queens, princes and princesses, who ruled, who had political power, but lived their faith so profoundly as political leaders that we honor them as saints today,” Hying said in a Facebook video.

St. Stephen was born around the year 970 in Hungary. Although he was born a pagan, Britannica says he was baptized as a child and brought up as a Christian. In his 20s, he married Gisela — the daughter of Duke Henry II of Bavaria and the sister of Henry II, the future Holy Roman Emperor. After Stephen's father died, he battled an insurrection, and was then crowned the first king of Hungary. Stephen is considered the founder of the Hungarian state.

St. Stephen devoted his time as a leader to promoting the Christian faith throughout Hungary, supporting Church leaders and supporting the construction of churches, according to Catholic.org. He is the patron saint of Hungary, and Catholics celebrate his feast day each year on Aug. 16.

"Of course, we live in a country where there's separation of Church and state, so there's a rightful separation between the establishment of the Church and our civil government,” Hying said in his video message. “Nevertheless, we are convicted as Catholics that every political leader should seek the common good; indeed, that is the absolute intention and purpose of political leadership - to seek the life, wellbeing and common good of all of the citizens of a particular country."

As part of his work to support the Church and the poor, St. Stephen established a tithing system throughout Hungary, according to Franciscan Media. He selected one town out of every ten to construct a church and support a priest. He also fought against paganism in Hungary.