PROTECTORATUL POLONEZ ASUPRA CATOLICILOR DIN MOLDOVA
POLISH PROTECTORATE OVER CATHOLICS IN MOLDOVA

Author(s): Alois Moraru
Subject(s): Local History / Microhistory, Military history, 13th to 14th Centuries, 15th Century, 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, History of Religion
Published by: Editura Cetatea de Scaun
Keywords: Catholics; Hussitism; Austro‑Hungarian Empire; Moldova; protectorate;
Summary/Abstract: This study is an incursion into the Catholic Church of the Moldavian province and its institutions. The territory of today’s Diocese of Iași is mentioned in history for the first time as the larger part of the Roman province of Dacia. The evangelization of Moldavia was carried out from Rome up until the beginning of the Middle Ages. When the Romanian lands then fell under Bulgarian rule, the Slavic language was introduced as the liturgical language together with the Byzantine rite. The Bulgarians invaded in the 9th century, but Christianity can be traced back to the first century. Toward the end of the 13th century, many members of the population were expelled from the western provinces by the Magyars due to Hungary’s expansion. They settled in the south and east of the Carpathians and founded the Principality of Wallachia and later the Principality of Moldavia. For the Catholics of this province, the Diocese of Milcov was established in 1227. Later, other dioceses were formed in Moldavia: Siret (1371–1434), Baia (1418–1523), and Bacău (1607–1818). The issue of the missionaries, the Catholic school, the founding of a seminary, etc., are important subjects in this chapter. In 1818, an Apostolic Vicariate was established in Iași. Because the total number of Catholics was approximately 65,000, a diocese was also founded in Iași in 1884. Poland’s involvement in the Moldavian Catholic Church likely coincides with the beginnings of Polish claims to sovereignty over state structures east of the Carpathians. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Polish kings claimed the right to appoint bishops of the Catholic Church in Moldavia. Documentary evidence of this royal privilege appears only in these centuries, but the earlier assertion seems supported by the exercise of Polish overlordship over Moldavia during most of the 15th and 16th centuries. This Polish protectorate usually manifested itself only through the appointment of bishops and their financial support by the court in Kraków or by other dioceses in Poland. Moreover, almost all missionaries who came from Poland traveled to Kraków at the height of their mission, where they received instructions and letters of recommendation. The Holy See often rewarded Poland and granted it a protectorate over the Moldavian Catholics—a protectorate that lasted several centuries until 1774. Due to the international political context, interest in protecting the Moldavian Catholics rose rapidly in the last decades of the 18th century. This even led to a dispute between Russia, Austria‑Hungary, and France at the expense of Poland, which was partitioned and eliminated from the competition for the protectorate over the Catholics in Moldavia.

• Details
• Contents