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52-626: Cardinal Lucian Mureșan , Archbishop of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia , has served as the head of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church since 1994. On December 16, 2005, as the Romanian Church United with Rome , the Greek-Catholic church was elevated to the rank of a Major Archiepiscopal Church by Pope Benedict XVI , with Lucian Mureșan becoming its first major archbishop . Mureşan was made a cardinal, at

104-759: A center of learning and national awakening for all Romanians.. In 1761, Petru Pavel Aron (1709–1764), the Bishop of Făgăraș and head of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, translated Biblia Vulgata into Romanian. While the Romanian Orthodox kept Church Slavonic as the official liturgical language till 1863, the Romanian Church United with Rome has been using the Romanian vernacular ever since its inception. In

156-579: A government crackdown ended that in his fourth year of studies. Since his religious affiliation made him unemployable in mining and construction, he worked at the quarry near his home town for almost a decade and then for the Department of Roads and Bridges in Maramureș until he retired in June 1990. He had continued to study in secret with former theology professors and completed a licensing exam, so that he

208-519: A marked reduction in the numbers of Romanian Greek Catholic faithful. After 40 years of Communist rule and forced assimilation into the regime-approved Orthodox Church, numerous Romanian cradle Greek-Catholics remained in the Romanian Orthodox Church, at least on paper, and it is unclear how many of these nominal Orthodox members remain crypto-Catholic , especially in northern Transylvania where most Greek Catholics lived (as shown on

260-623: A priest more openly in the diocese of Maramureș. After Dragomir's death on 25 April 1985, he was provisional ordinary of the diocese of Maramureș until 9 August 1986 when, having been proposed by the diocesan chapter, he was installed in that office by Archbishop of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia Alexandru Todea . Following the Romanian Revolution of December 1989, the Romanian Catholic Church gained legal status and began to function publicly. On 14 March 1990, Mureșa

312-409: A serious revolt in 1437, when peasants and Hungarian nobles defeated the troops of the landholders. The Budai Nagy Antal Revolt was triggered by an attempt by the Bishop of Transylvania to collect taxes. Although the revolt was led by Hungarian noble Antal Nagy de Buda , it consisted of a coalition of various elements of Transylvanian society. This included Hungarian and Romanian serfs as well as

364-455: A spoon rather than the chalice and with wine made from grapes found in the street.... These modern martyrs of the 20th century offered all their suffering to the Lord for dignity and human freedom. His remarks drew a rare round of applause from the synod fathers. He was promoted to the status of Major Archbishop on 16 December 2005, when Pope Benedict XVI recognized the self-governing status of

416-602: Is a Romanian prelate of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church who has been the first Major Archbishop of the Greek Catholic Archdiocese of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia since 2005. He was archbishop there from 1994 to 2005 and bishop of Maramureș from 1990 to 1994. He has been a cardinal of the Catholic Church since 2012. As Major Archbishop of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia he is based in Blaj and is the head of

468-667: Is facing a cultural and religious wipe-out: the Greek-Catholic churches are allegedly being destroyed by representatives of the Romanian Orthodox Church , whose actions allegedly enjoy not only the acceptance, but also the support of the Romanian authorities. Ecclesiastical Province of Fagaras and Alba Iulia Immediately subject to the Holy See 46°10′25″N 23°55′15″E  /  46.1735°N 23.9208°E  / 46.1735; 23.9208 Lucian Mure%C8%99an Lucian Mureșan (born 23 May 1931)

520-711: Is one with the Catholic Church and Holy See . Transylvanian Romanians were therefore encouraged to convert to Catholicism and join to the Romanian Unified Church (Greek-Catholic Church), while being able to retain the Byzantine rite, if at the same time they accepted four doctrinal points promulgated by the Council of Florence (1431 and 1445): the supreme authority of the Pope over the entire church;

572-575: Is possible that the rebels considered themselves inhabitants of the Estate of Hungarians and Romanians ( Universitas Hungarorum et Valachorum ). Despite the pressing issues at hand, the Transylvanian Diet was still not called together by the Voivode , resulting in the various nobles initiating a meeting of the three nations. After a gap of almost half a century, the estates now had

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624-688: The Communist regime , rooted in Marxist–Leninist atheism , deposed all 12 bishops of the Greek-Catholic Church on Stalin's orders. Moreover, on October 21, 1948, the 250th anniversary of the Romanian Greek Catholic Union with the Catholic Church, the regime arranged for the "voluntary" and "spontaneous" transfer of all members of the Greek-Catholic Church (decree 358/1948), that numbered more than 1,500,000 at

676-728: The Latin Church , whose members are more numerous. Following the Habsburg conquest of Transylvania in 1687, Metropolitan Atanasie Anghel entered into full communion with the See of Rome by the Act of Union of 1698, that was formalized by a synod of bishops on September 4, 1700. This was part of the process the unification of the Romanian Orthodox population to the Catholic Church (Rome's Church) newly created Greek Catholic Church,

728-770: The Romanian Greek Catholic Church . Lucian Mureșan was born on 23 May 1931 in the village of Firiza (now the Ferneziu district of Baia Mare ), in the Kingdom of Romania . He was the tenth of Peter and Maria (Breban) Mureșan's twelve children. He attended primary school in Firiza from 1938 to 1944 and secondary school in Baia Mare at the Gheorghe Șincai High School from 1944 to 1948. Education for

780-682: The Unio Trium Nationum ("Union of Three Nations") on February 2, 1438. Like the Brotherly Union, the new Union provided mutual aid against peasant revolts and Ottoman attacks. The Union ensured that the (Hungarian and Romanian) serfs continued to be excluded from the political life of Transylvania , although they were the majority of the population in the Noble Counties ( Comitates ). The Romanians adhered to Eastern Orthodoxy , which in predominantly Catholic Hungary

832-710: The consistory of February 18, 2012. Besides the Archeparchy of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia, there are five more Greek-Catholic eparchies in Romania ( Eparchy of Oradea Mare , Eparchy of Cluj-Gherla , Eparchy of Lugoj , Eparchy of Maramureș , and Eparchy of Saint Basil the Great of Bucharest ), as well as one eparchy overseas, the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St George's in Canton , answering directly to

884-881: The "reactionary" Holy See , they were imprisoned. At about the same time, the Orthodox Church was being "purged" of priests hostile to the Communist regime. Following this purge, the Orthodox hierarchy enjoyed good and unforced relations with the Communist authorities for the remainder of the Communist Rule of Romania . Iuliu Hossu , Bishop of Cluj , turned down a proposal of the Romanian Orthodox Patriarch, Iustinian Marina , to convert to Orthodoxy and be named Orthodox Archbishop of Iaşi and metropolitan of Moldavia , and thereby become

936-756: The 19th century, during a time when the Hungarian government was pursuing a Magyarization policy in Transylvania, the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church, with the aid of the Transylvanian School (Școala Ardeleană) and the Transylvanian Memorandum , played a prominent role in resisting ethnic assimilation attempts. Moreover, many leading figures of the Romanian emancipation movement in Transylvania, such as Simion Bărnuțiu and Iuliu Maniu , began their careers as lay servants of

988-543: The Greek-Catholic Church) as repugnant and bringing grave prejudice upon the Romanian state. Only after much struggle and considerable delays, some of the Church's properties, in particular the cathedrals of Cluj, Blaj, Lugoj, and Oradea, were restored to their rightful owner. However, much of the original property remains in Romanian Orthodox or government hands, as the persecution started in 1948 has led to

1040-471: The Greek-Catholic Church. Additional Greek-Catholic Eparchies were eventually set up at Oradea (1777), as well as Gherla and Lugoj (1853); Blaj, under the title of Eparchy of Alba Iulia and Făgăraș, became the Metropolitan (i.e. Archiepiscopal) See. On December 16, 2005, the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church was elevated to the rank of Major Archiepiscopal Church . After assuming political power in 1948,

1092-553: The Major Archbishop and the Holy See, in the United States of America and Canada . According to data published in the 2016 Annuario Pontificio , the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church had 504,280 members, 8 bishops, 1,225 parishes, some 835 diocesan priests and 235 seminarians of its own rite at the end of 2012. However, according to the 2011 Romanian government census, the number of its followers living in Romania

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1144-640: The October 2005 Synod of Bishops, he described the meaning of the Eucharist under Romania's Communist government: In our country, Romania, the communists tried to give man material bread alone, and wanted to chase ‘the bread of God’ from society and from the heart of the human person. Now, we realize that, outlawing our Greek Catholic Church, they were very afraid of the God present in the Eucharist.... Instead how many Masses have there been, clandestinely celebrated in

1196-609: The Romanian Greek Catholic Church and raised the Archdiocese of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia to the status of major archdiocese. He was installed as major archbishop on 30 April 2006 in the presence of the prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Cardinal Ignatius Moses I Daoud . On 18 February 2012, Pope Benedict XVI made him Cardinal Priest of Sant'Atanasio . As he was already older than 80 at

1248-929: The Székely Seat of Háromszék , both in the border region, were ravaged. Sigismund reacted to the attack only years later, leading a series of military campaigns against the Ottomans in Wallachia. The Ottomans, allied with the Wallachian Voivode, returned in 1432 and Southern Transylvania suffered serious damages again. In the same period, nobles and church authorities in Central Transylvania were concerned about protesting and revolting serfs . Hungarian and Romanian ( Vlach ) peasants were dissatisfied with high taxes and restrictions to their free movement. Scattered peasant protests turned into

1300-708: The Three Nations") was a pact of mutual aid codified in 1438 by three Estates of Transylvania : the (largely Hungarian ) nobility , the Saxon ( German ) patrician class (represented by the Transylvanian Saxon University ), and the free military Székelys . The union was directed against the whole of the peasantry, regardless of ethnicity, in response to the Transylvanian peasant revolt . In this typical feudal estate parliament,

1352-516: The Union helped the indigenous inhabitants to re-negotiate and partly modify the terms of the previous agreement, the alliance did not organize any serious military operations until the end of 1437. At that time, the alliance defeated the opposition after the death of King Sigismund in December. After the successful campaign, the alliance of Hungarian nobles, Székelys, and Saxon elite was codified in

1404-602: The border area tried to defend themselves, but were heavily outnumbered by the intruders. King Sigismund was not able to react promptly because he had recently inherited the Bohemian throne and was involved there in the Hussite Wars . Also, Transylvanian Diets had not been organized for decades and there was no forum to coordinate defence preparations of the three nations. Left alone, the Saxon Burzenland and

1456-477: The burghers of Kolozsvár ( Klausenburg , Cluj ), and resulted in the lower taxes codified by the Treaty of Kolozsmonostor. Pál Vajdaházi, one of the leaders of the revolt, was referred to in this document as vexilifer Universitatis regnicolarum Hungarorum et Valachorum huius principatus Hungariae (Standard-bearer of the Union of Hungarian and Romanian inhabitants of this province of Hungary). Consequently, it

1508-610: The existence of Purgatory ; the Filioque clause ; and the validity of the use of unleavened bread in the celebration of the Eucharist in the Latin Church (Eastern Orthodox had contended that Latin Catholic use of unleavened bread was erroneous). The step undertaken by Metropolitan Atanasie Anghel and his Holy Synod obtained for the ethnic Romanians of Transylvania (then part of the Habsburg monarchy ) equal rights with those of

1560-463: The formation of Romanian Orthodox movements that advocated for freedom of worship for the entire Transylvanian population – most notable the movements led by serbian monk Visarion Sarai, Nicolae Oprea Miclăuş, and the bosniac monk Sofronie of Cioara , under the influence of the dominant Serbian Orthodox Church. In 1721, the Bishop's Residence was moved from Alba Iulia to Făgăraș , and eventually to Blaj (1737). Following this change, Blaj became

1612-471: The former Orthodox Church of Romanians from Transylvania . By entering into the Union, Atanasie and the other bishops, along with their respective dioceses, accepted the supreme authority of the Pope , while at the same time being granted the right to keep their own Greek Byzantine liturgical rite . A diploma issued by the Emperor Leopold I declared that Transylvania's Romanian Orthodox Church

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1664-470: The free Székely and Saxon nations lived without feudal landlords and had the royal privilege to have local authority and self-government. With the rise of the Ottoman Empire , one of the first major Ottoman military campaigns against Transylvanian parts of the Kingdom of Hungary was organised in 1421. The invading forces entered the region from Wallachia . The Saxons and Székelys living in

1716-810: The jet aviation battalion in Craiova . In 1953, because of his connection with the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, he was transferred from the air force to work on the construction of Romania's first large hydroelectric plant at the Bicaz Dam . After completing his military service in 1954, he worked in different places while studying for the priesthood, one of a handful of students at the Roman Catholic Theological Institute in Alba-Iulia under Bishop Márton Áron , who had been released from prison but remained under house arrest, but

1768-572: The maps to the right). Other Greek Catholic Romanians switched to the Latin Church, and now account for the second-largest group in that denomination after Hungarians. The Romanian Church United with Rome is still undergoing a process of recovery from the wounds inflicted by the Communist rulers and the forced merger. Since the fall of Communism, Church leaders have claimed that the Romanian Greek-Catholic Community

1820-513: The official successor of the Romanian Orthodox Patriarch himself. Consequently, Hossu remained under house arrest. Year after year, he sent Memorandums to the President of the Republic, requesting that the country's laws and international agreements be observed with regard to the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church. In 1969, Pope Paul VI asked Hossu to allow himself to be made a cardinal . As Hossu

1872-529: The opportunity to discuss Transylvanian issues together. On this occasion, the nobles set up an alliance with Székelys and Saxons who were still afraid of possible Ottoman incursions. The alliance of mutual aid, signed in Kápolna (present-day ( Căpâlna ), was called the Fraterna Unio (Brotherly Union), and was designed to protect the parties both from revolts and Ottoman attacks. While the existence of

1924-462: The other Transylvanian nations, which were part of the Unio Trium Nationum : the Hungarian nobility, the Transylvanian Saxons , and the Székely . This event coincided with the arrival of the Jesuits in Transylvania (second time), who attempted to align this province more closely with Western Europe. However, Orthodox Serbian authority and Protestant Transylvanian nobility were not willing to accept Romanians Orthodox converts, and this in turn led to

1976-475: The peasants (whether Hungarian, Saxon, Székely, or Romanian in origin) were not represented, and they did not benefit from its acts, as the commoners were not considered to be members of these feudal "nations". In medieval times, Transylvania was organised into two separate types of territorial units: the Noble Counties ( Comitates ) were ruled by feudal landlords. Here, the majority of population were Hungarian and Romanian serfs . In other regions called Seats ,

2028-488: The philosophy, theology, psychology and pedagogy section of the Romanian Academy . On 6 June 2015, Mureșan received the national commendation Order of the Star of Romania , Officer rank from President Klaus Iohannis of Romania. In June 2019, he celebrated Mass at the beatification of seven Romanian martyred bishops, as Pope Francis presided, having made a point of visiting Blaj for the ceremony. Unio Trium Nationum Unio Trium Nationum ( Latin for "Union of

2080-449: The presence of 100 priests and more than 20,000 faithful. It was the first meeting of the entire Greek Catholic hierarchy at a large public event and included the presence of a papal representative. At the ceremony, the President of the Republic read the legal decree recognizing his title. Mureșan opened the new Baia Mare Theological Institute in the academic year 1990-1991. It included a 3-year program for training religion teachers. He

2132-438: The priesthood was prohibited when he came of age, as the Romanian Greek Catholic Church was completely suppressed by Romania's Communist government. Between 1948 and 1951, Mureșan attended school for woodworking, focusing on fine furniture in Baia Mare while continuing his academic studies part-time. From 1951 to 1954, he performed his mandatory military service first at the aviation school in Turnișor , Sibiu County and then at

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2184-462: The remains of Dom Inocențiu Micu-Klein were taken from Rome, where he died in exile, to the cathedral he founded in Blaj. Between 1998 and 2001 and again in 2004, Mureșan was elected president of the Romanian Catholic Bishops' Conference, which includes the hierarchy of the Catholic Church of both rites, Latin (Roman Catholic) and Eastern (Greek-Catholic). Between 7 and 9 May 1999, he received Pope John Paul II during his visit to Romania, which

2236-414: The time of his creation, he has no right to vote in a papal conclave. He was generally counted as the third Romanian to become a cardinal after Iuliu Hossu and Alexandru Todea , though Hossu's elevation to the rank of cardinal was not announced while he lived. He was named a member of the Congregation for Oriental Churches again on 21 April 2012. On 24 October 2012 he was named an honorary member of

2288-488: The time, to the Romanian Orthodox Church ; furthermore, the property rights over many of the Greek-Catholic Church's possessions, including its four cathedrals, were transferred to the Romanian Orthodox Church , while the remainder of those properties were confiscated by the Romanian State. The Greek-Catholic bishops, along with many of their priests, were accused by the newly installed Communist authorities of "antidemocratic activity". After refusing to give up their ties with

2340-477: Was as low as 150,593, of whom 124,563 are ethnic Romanians. By 2022, however, the church estimated their numbers have grown to 488,000, as many citizens whose ancestors had converted to Orthodoxy or embraced Marxist-Leninist atheism under the Communist regime have chosen to rejoin the Greek Catholic Church. The vast majority of the Romanian diocesan priests in Romania are married . In addition, there are five other Catholic dioceses in Romania , belonging to

2392-415: Was considered heretical. The alliance of the three privileged estates was effective for centuries and provided the framework of internal and international relations of Transylvania. After the 18th century, when the danger of Ottoman or Tatar attacks was over, the Union became an alliance of the three estates to protect their vested rights from those who were not represented in the Transylvanian Diet . In

2444-415: Was elected eparch of Maramureș of the Romanians. Pope John Paul gave his assent the next day. He received his episcopal consecration on 27 May on the terrace of the Romanian Soldier's Monument in Baia Mare, from Archbishop Todea, assisted by Ioan Ploscaru , Bishop of Lugoj , and Guido del Mestri , a veteran member of the diplomatic service of the Holy See who had been expelled from Romania in 1950, in

2496-446: Was granted amnesty in 1964. On March 14, 1990, after the fall of the Communist regime , he was appointed Archbishop of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia, and was made a cardinal the following year. After more than 40 years of clandestine existence, the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic re-emerged publicly, in the wake of the Romanian Revolution . Normative Act 9/31, passed on December 31, 1989, repealed Decree 358/1948 (that outlawed

2548-416: Was limited to Bucharest at the request of the Orthodox Church. During the Jubilee of the Year 2000, he organized a national pilgrimage to Rome, culminating on 9 May with a concelebrated mass in Romanian with Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica with the thousands of Romanian pilgrims in attendance. On 26 May 2003, Mureșa was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches . At

2600-507: Was named Metropolitan Archbishop of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia of the Romanians on 4 July 1994 and on 27 August he was installed in Blaj. He convened and participated in the four sessions of the Fourth Provincial Council of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, held between 1995 and 1998. He participated in 1995 in the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Romanian Catholic Mission in Paris, celebrating Mass in Romanian at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. In August 1997, through his efforts,

2652-502: Was prepared for ordination when the government released Romania's bishops from prison in 1964. Mureșan was ordained a priest on 19 December 1964 by Ioan Dragomir , auxiliary bishop of Maramureș, in the basement of a building in Cluj . As instructed by Dragomir, he even kept his ordination secret from his parents. He exercised his pastoral ministry in hiding, mainly dedicated to young people and those who wanted to become priests, while continuing his secular employment. He later worked as

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2704-430: Was reluctant to leave Romania, the pope made him a cardinal only "in pectore" , i.e. without publishing the fact, and this was only revealed on March 5, 1973, three years after Hossu's death. Another remarkable Romanian Greek-Catholic ecclesiastic of the time was Alexandru Todea (1912–2002). Secretly consecrated a bishop on November 19, 1950, he was arrested and the following year he was sentenced to life in prison. He

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