Adalék a mikházi ferences kolostor 20. századi történetéhez
Contribution to the 20th-Century History of the Călugăreni/Mikháza Franciscan Monastery

Summary/Abstract: This article examines a 20th-century legal case concerning the Călugăreni/Mikháza Franciscan Monastery, which centered on securing the order’s revenues during the Romanian land reform and a period of declining income. Based on reports from three daily newspapers, the author reconstructs the lawsuit, which involved a centuries-old customary right according to which all Saturday income from the mill at Fântânele/Gyulakuta belonged to the monastery. There is no written documentation of the agreement between the Lázár countly family, the former owners of the mill, and the monastery, but tradition traces it back over 300 years. The Lázár family, financially strained by the land reform, sold the mill in 1925 to Viktor Wolf, Jenő Lőte, and Lajos Lőte. The monastery sued the new owners, and both the Székelyudvarhely court and the Marosvásárhely appellate court ruled in favor of the Franciscan order. The courts recognized the customary right that had existed for more than three centuries and obliged the owners to continue paying the Saturday toll. The case became moot in 1948 with the dissolution of the monastic orders.

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