ROMANIAN ACADEMY
„GEORGE BARIŢIU” INSTITUTE OF HISTORY CLUJ-NAPOCA
THE GREEK CATHOLIC VICARSHIP OF
MARAMUREŞ BETWEEN THE YEARS 1856 AND 1930
PhD THESIS
ABSTRACT
PhD Supervisor:
Scientifical Researcher I Degree
Dr. Simion Retegan
PhD Candidate
Câmpeanu Marius Constantin
Cluj – Napoca
2015
Key words: Maramureş, vicarship, vicar forane, archpriestship, archpriest, Normal
School, boarding house, confessional school, teacher, teachers’ conferences, teachers’ reunions.
The PhD thesis entitled The Greek Catholic Vicarship of Maramureş between the years
1856 and 1930 presents the organisational structure of the only Romanian institution which
existed in the period of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy in the former county of
Maramureş. It also describes the involvement of the Greek Catholic forane vicars, archpriests
and priests in the creation and support of the Association for the Culture of the Romanian People
of Maramureş, the Normal School and the boarding house, as well as in the organisation and
functioning of the Romanian confessional schools.
Although the Greek Catholic Bishopric of Gherla was established in November 1853, the
transfer of the 54 Greek Catholic parishes of Maramureş into the structure of this new eparchy
took place only in the year 1856 and was shaped institutionally in the autumn of 1860 through
the recreation of the Greek Catholic Vicarship of Maramureş and the endowment of vicar Mihail
Pavel as its leader The other chronological limit we set, the year 1930, marks the creation of the
Greek Catholic Bishopric of Maramureş, whose residence was established in Baia Mare. The
Vicarship of Maramureş was then incorporated in the newly created ecclesiastical structure under
the leadership of bishop dr. Alexandru Rusu and functioned as such until 1948, the year when the
Romanian Church United with Rome was officially interdicted.
This PhD thesis includes eight chapters, framed by an Argument and The historiography
of the theme (at the beginning), and the Conclusions, Bibliography and the Appendices (at the
end).
The literature in The historiography of the theme was organised by three major themes.
First were presented the most important historiographic contributions to the history of the Greek
Catholic Church in Transylvania. Next the most important works referring to the creation and
functioning of the five Transylvanian vicarships (Haţeg, Făgăraş, Rodna, Silvania and
Maramureş) until the year 1948. At the end were presented the contributions referring to the
ecclesiastical dimension of Maramureş, among which the writings of vicar Tit Bud, considered
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to be the first modern monographs about the ecclesiastical organisation of Maramureş, are to be
noted.
The first chapter, entitled The organisation of the church in Maramureş from the late 14th
century to mid-19th century, contains a thematic analysis of the chief features of the ecclesiastical
life of the Romanians in Maramureş „between medieval and modern”. The following topics are
approached as sub-themes: the remarkable role of „Sfântul Mihail” Monastery of Peri, which in
the year 1391 received the status of patriarchal stavropigia, was subordinated directly to the
patriarch of Constantinople, the period during which the region of Maramureş was under the
„spiritual assistance” of the Orthodox bishops of Bălgrad and the local Orthodox bishops, and
the final transfer of Maramureş (after the year 1733) under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the
Ruthenian Bishopric of Muncaci.
Chapter II focuses on The Greek Catholic Vicarship of Maramureş. After the
historiographic considerations referring to the institution of forane vicarship, we approach a
number of aspects related to the separation of the Maramureş parishes from Muncaci and their
inclusion in the Greek Catholic Bishopric of Gherla, the creation of the Greek Catholic Vicarship
of Maramureş (on 24 November 1860) and of the Vicarial Consistory. Next are presented the
biographies of the forane vicars of Maramureş: Mihail Pavel (1860-1872), Ioan Pop (18721878), Mihail Kökényesdy (1878-1887), Tit Bud (1887-1917) and Ilariu Boroş (1919-1935). The
presentations of the forane vicars emphasise their significant role in the process of preservation
of the confessional character of Romanian elementary schools in the creation and uphold of the
Association for the Culture of the Romanian people of Maramureş, the Normal School and its
boarding house.
Chapter III presents The Structure of the Greek Catholic Vicarship of Maramureş which
between the years 1860 and 1930 included six archpriestships (Vişeu, Cosău, Sighet, Iza, Ieud
and Mara). In the subchapters about the archpriestships are presented elements of statistics and
data referring to the parishes and their adjacent non-parish communities, archpriests, parish
priests and the churches erected in the interval under scrutiny. A special attention was given to
the Greek Catholic Parish of Sighet, established through the Legateship of Vienna on 18 April
1871.
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Chapter IV, entitled The cultural associations supported by the church brings to the fore
the contribution of the Maramureş Romanian Greek Catholic forane vicars, archpriests and
priests to the establishment and support of the Association for the Culture of the Romanian
people of Maramureş, the Normal School and the boarding home. The fact that Sighet was not
under Gherla’s ecclesiastical jurisdiction led to the delayed approval of the statutes of the
Association and implicitly the depriving of the Normal School from the right to publicity, which
would have assured its financial stability. Established with a view to training qualified teachers
for the confessional schools in the vicarship, the Normal School was short-lived. This
ephemerality was due on the one hand to the poverty and indifference of those who were
supposed to support it financially, among whom were the priests, and on the other hand to the
policy of denationalisation of the Romanians conducted by the Austro-Hungarian dual state. For
the diffusion of the Romanian literature and culture the Greek Catholic clergy and the Romanian
intelligentsia in the county created the Reading Society of the Romanians in Maramureş. Under
the aegis of this society cultural meetings and conferences were organised during which dr. Ioan
Mihalyi de Apşa and Simeon Botizan talked to the young Romanian students in the Hungarian
secondary schools of Sighet about the origin and purity of the Romanian language, advocating
remarkably in favour of the Romanian national culture. A library was created with a view to
promoting Romanian literature. Several personalities of the Romanian culture of the late 19th
century, among which George Bariţiu, Iosif Hodoş, Alexandru Papiu Ilarian and Pavel Vasici,
were among the ones to make a contribution to this library through donations.
The next three chapters discuss the problem of the Romanian confessional education in
Maramureş. Chapter V, The School legislation during the period of the Austro-Hungarian dual
monarchy, has two main components. The first part introduces the guiding lines of the school
legislation in the period of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy, with an emphasis on the
regulations which impacted on the organisation and functioning of the Romanian confessional
schools in the vicarship of Maramureş. The second part presents briefly the organisational
structure of confessional education on a diocesan level and the most important ecclesiastical
provisions which actuated the school life of the Romanians in the diocese of Gherla.
Chapters VI and VII present the structure of the school network in the Greek Catholic
Vicarship of Maramureş, which included 49 confessional schools. The archpriestships associated
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in two groups of three archpriestships each, following the same association principle upon which
organisation of the teachers’ conferences from the vicarship of Maramureş in the seventh and
eighth decades of the 19th century were based. Chapter VI also presents The school network in
the Greek Catholic Archpriestships of Vişeu, Iza and Ieud, while Chapter VII presents The
school network in the Greek Catholic Archpriestships of Sighet, Cosău and Mara. Each
subchapter analyses a confessional school in each parish together with its adjacent non-parish
communities and brings to the fore information found in the archives and the Gherla reference
books, including the teachers, their professional training and waging, school attendance, the
condition of the school buildings, school foundations, etc.
Chapter VIII, entitled Forms of organisation of the teachers in the Greek Catholic
Vicarship of Maramureş, presents two sub-themes: Teachers’ conferences and The reunion of
the Greek Catholic Teachers in Maramureş. The teachers’ conferences, organised in each
archpriestship in the seventh and eighth decades of the 19th century, provided good opportunities
for analysing the situation of the Romanian primary education. Subsequently the necessary steps
for elimination of the obstacles impeding on the appropriate progress of the educational process
and modernisation of teaching and learning were proposed. An important role was held by the
Reunion of the Greek Catholic teachers from Maramureş, established in Sighet in the year 1883.
After 1886 the general teachers’ reunions were held in the vicarship’s confessional schools.
Overall the activities taking place under the patronage of the teachers’ reunions were complex,
promoting both creativity (through the dissertations made each year by the teachers) and the folk
art, the art of choir singing, the creation of school libraries, etc. By promoting fruit growing, the
Reunion represented a bridge between the school and the economic life of the rural communities.
The PhD thesis ends with the Conclusions, the Bibliography on the subject and the
Appendices, which include the documents representative for the subject under study from the
archives consulted.
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CONTENTS
Argument
Historiography of the theme
I. The organisation of the church in Maramureş from late 14th century to mid-19th century
1.1. Historic and geographic considerations
1.2. Orthodoxy in Maramureş from late 14th century to mid-18th century
1.2.1. The „Sfântul Mihail” Monastery in Peri
1.2.2. The bishops of Maramureş under the Transylvanian princes
1.2.3. The fight of the bishops of Maramureş for the defense of Orthodoxy
1.3. The fight of bishops Ioan Giurgiu Patachi and Inocenţiu Micu-Klein for keeping
Maramureş under the jurisdiction of the Greek Catholic Bishopric of Alba-Iulia and Făgăraş
1.4. The Vicarship of Maramureş within the Greek Catholic Bishopric of Muncaci
II. The Greek Catholic Vicarship of Maramureş
2.1. The institution of forane vicarship. Historiographic considerations
2.2. The separation from Muncaci and the incorporation in the Greek Catholic Bishopric
of Gherla
2.3. The establishment of the Greek Catholic Vicarship of Maramureş and of the
subordinate Consistory
2.4. The Greek Catholic vicars of Maramureş
2.4.1. Mihail Pavel (1860-1872)
2.4.2. Ioan Pop (1872-1878)
2.4.3. Mihail Kökényesdy (1878-1887)
2.4.4. Tit Bud (1887-1917)
2.4.5. Ilariu Boroş (1919-1935)
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III. The structure of the Greek Catholic Vicarship of Maramureş
3.1. The Greek Catholic Archpriestship of Vişeu
3.2. The Greek Catholic Archpriestship Cosău
3.3. The Greek Catholic Archpriestship Sighetu
3.3.1. The Greek Catholic Parish of Sighet
3.4. The Greek Catholic Archpriestship of Iza
3.5. The Greek Catholic Archpriestship of Ieud
3.6. The Greek Catholic Archpriestship of Mara
IV. The cultural associations supported by the Church
4.1. The Association for the Culture of the Romanian People in Maramureş
4.1.1. The Association and the Normal School
4.1.2. The Association’s boarding house
4.1.2.1. The building of the boarding house
4.1.2.2. The official opening of the boarding house
4.2. The Reading Society of the Romanians in Maramureş
V. The school legislation during the period of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy
5.1. The state policy of the dual state
5.2. The school ecclesiastical legislation
VI. The school network in the Greek Catholic archpriestships of Vişeu, Iza and Ieud
6.1. The schools in the Greek Catholic Archpriestship of Vişeu
6.1.1. The confessional schools in Borşa
6.1.2. The confessional school in Moisei
6.1.3. The confessional school in Vişeul de Sus
6.1.4. The confessional school in Vişeul de Mijloc
6.1.5. The confessional school in Vişeul de Jos
6.1.6. The confessional school in Leordina
6.1.7. The confessional school in Petrova
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6.2. The schools in the Greek Catholic Archpriestship of Iza
6.2.1. The confessional school in Botiza
6.2.2. The confessional school in Glod
6.2.3. The confessional school in Slătioara
6.2.4. The confessional school in Năneşti
6.2.5. The confessional school in Şieu
6.2.6. The confessional school in Rozavlea
6.2.7. The confessional school in Poieni
6.2.8. The confessional school in Strâmtura
6.3. The schools in the Greek Catholic Archpriestship of Ieud
6.3.1. The confessional school in Bocicoel
6.3.2. The confessional school in Cuhea
6.3.3. The confessional school in Dragomireşti
6.3.4. The confessional school in Ieud
6.3.5. The confessional school in Săcel
6.3.6. The confessional school in Săliştea de Sus
VII. The school network in the Greek Catholic archpriestships of Sighet, Cosău and Mara
7.1. The schools in the Greek Catholic Archpriestship of Sighet
7.1.1. The confessional school in Biserica Albă
7.1.2. The confessional school in Iapa
7.1.3. The confessional school in Rona de Jos
7.1.4. The confessional school in Sarasău
7.1.5. The confessional school in Săpânţa...
7.1.6. The confessional school in Apşa de Jos
7.1.7. The confessional school in Apşa de Mijloc
7.1.8. The confessional school in Slatina
7.1.9. The confessional school in Sighet
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7.2. The schools in the Greek Catholic Archpriestship of Cosău
7.2.1. The confessional school in Ocna-Şugatag
7.2.2. The confessional school in Hoteni
7.2.3. The confessional school in Budeşti
7.2.4. The confessional school in Sârbi
7.2.5. The confessional school in Călineşti
7.2.6. The confessional school in Fereşti-Corneşti
7.2.7. The confessional school in Bârsana
7.2.8. The confessional school in Văleni
7.2.9. The confessional school in Onceşti
7.3. The schools in the Greek Catholic Archpriestship of Mara
7.3.1. The confessional school in Berbeşti
7.3.2. The confessional school in Breb
7.3.3. The confessional school in Crăceşti
7.3.4. The confessional school in Deseşti
7.3.5. The confessional school in Giuleşti
7.3.6. The confessional school in Sat-Şugatag
7.3.7. The confessional school in Hărniceşti
7.3.8. The confessional school in Vad
7.3.9. The confessional school in Valea Porcului
VIII. Forms of organisation of the teachers in the Greek Catholic Vicarship of Maramureş
8.1. The conferences of the teachers in the Vicarship of Maramureş
8.2. The reunion of the Greek Catholic teachers in Maramureş
Conclusions
Bibliography
Appendices
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