PREOȚI GRECO-CATOLICI DIN COMITATUL MUREŞ-TURDA LA MAREA UNIRE
GREEK CATHOLIC PRIESTS FROM THE COUNTY OF MUREŞ-TURDA AT THE GREAT UNION

Author(s): Răzvan Mihai Neagu
Subject(s): Cultural history, History of Church(es), Diplomatic history, Local History / Microhistory, Recent History (1900 till today), Politics and religion
Published by: Editura Cetatea de Scaun
Keywords: 1 December 1918; Mureș–Turda County; the Great Union; priest; First World War;
Summary/Abstract: In the Romanian society from Transylvania in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, the priest embodied an important character and a cohesive factor. The activity of the cleric involved a large spectrum of fields: religious, political, economical, social,cultural, educational, national (until the Great Union from 1918). The priest was a noticeable personality of the Romanian Community, both within the church, where he was serving, but also in the society, where he was always seen as a guide and a behavior role-model to be followed. Byhis intellectual preparation, the Romanian priest from Transylvania represented an essential partof the Romanian elite. Some clerics had, besides the intellectual theological formation acquired in Blaj, formation stages at Budapest, Vienna, Rome, or even followed the courses of faculties such as Law and Letters. This paper aims to introduce the priests from Mureş-Turda county, whowere officially elected to represent their communities at the Great Union. During the Great War,they helped the ones in sufferance or were themselves victims of intolerance, some of them beingeven deported. In the inter-war period these priests contributed massively in the direction of organizing the administration with Romanian characteristics in the towns and counties they camefrom. Mureş-Turda county was represented at the Great Union by eleven Greek-Catholic priests. Among these we mention Ariton Marian Popa (1871-1946), the Greek-Catholic archpriest of Reghin and Dionisie Decei (1869-1949), the Greek Catholic archpriest of Mureş.

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