Bishop József Mindszenty of Veszprém returned to his episcopal seat in Veszprém on April 20, 1945, after five months of imprisonment by the Arrow Cross regime. By that time, Father István Oross, the parish priest of Fűzfőgyártelep, had already reported to the episcopal chancellery that Mária Magdolna Bódi had been murdered by a Soviet soldier while defending her purity. Bishop Mindszenty believed that the circumstances of Magdi’s death indicated true martyrdom and therefore ordered preliminary information gathering.

On April 24, the first three witnesses were heard regarding the circumstances of her death. This was an important step toward her beatification, as these witnesses personally knew Magdi.

On August 1, the informative beatification process and the appointment of judges began.

In September, another 13 witnesses were heard, but the process was temporarily halted when the Soviet army ransacked the seminary and episcopal library, making the canonization process manual unavailable. During this time, József Mindszenty was appointed Archbishop of Esztergom.