The Seven Romanian Greek-Catholic Bishop-Martyrs Who Will Be Beatified by Pope Francis

On June 2, 2019, seven Romanian Greek-Catholic Bishop-martyrs will be beatified in Blaj on the Liberty Plain. The Holy Father Pope Francis himself will lead the beatification service. The blessed martyr bishops are Valeriu Traian Frentiu, Vasile Aftenie, Ioan Suciu, Alexandru Rusu, Ioan Balan, Tit Liviu Chinezu and Iuliu Hossu.

After the communist regime was installed in Romania by Bolshevik Moscow, the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church was officially banned. The seven bishops were arrested in 1948. The Communist authorities and representatives of the Romanian Orthodox Church at that time tried to control the bishops by offering them positions in the Orthodox hierarchy in exchange for their giving up their faith, but the Greek-Catholic bishops refused. Bishop Iuliu Hossu synthesized their position by telling the investigators, “Our faith is our life!”

Valeriu Traian Frentiu (April 25, 1875 – July 11, 1952) Bishop of the Eparchy of Oradea from 1922 to 1952.

He was consecrated priest on September 28, 1898. He served as Rector, Dean, Chancellor and Vicar Foraneu in the Diocese of Lugoj. On November 4, 1912, at a young 37 years, he was appointed Bishop of Lugoj. On February 25, 1922 he was transferred to the Episcopate of Oradea and enthroned May 3, the same year.

October 28, 1948 he was arrested and sent to Dragoslavele. Refusing to switch to the Orthodox religion, in February 1949 he was transferred to Căldăruşani Monastery.

In 1950, Bishop Frentiu was sent to Sighet prison where, after two years of extermination, he died on July 11, 1952.

Vasile Aftenie (June 14, 1899 – May 10, 1950)

He studied at Lodroman, Bucharest, Blaj, and at Rome. He obtained his PhD in Philosophy and Theology in 1925 and returned to Romania.

On January 1, 1926, he was ordained as a priest by Metropolitan Vasile Suciu. He worked at Blaj and Bucharest 1926 to 1940. On April 12, 1940 he was appointed as a Bishop by Pope Pius XII.

He was arrested on October 28, 1948 in Bucharest and imprisoned along with the other five Greek-Catholic bishops first in Dragoslavele, then in Căldăruşani, a former monastery converted to a prison.  It was proposed that he be appointed as an Orthodox Metropolitan if he would have embraced Orthodoxy, but he refused. Tortured, mutilated, crippled mentally and physically, Bishop Vasile Aftenie died May 10, 1950 in Vacaresti Prison.

Ioan Suciu (December 4, 1907 – June 27, 1953)

He studied in Rome at Sant-Athanasio, Pontificium Institutum Internationale Angelicum, obtaining a Doctorate in Sacred Theology in 1931, when he was ordained as a priest.

In 1940 he was consecrated as Bishop of Oradea.

Arrested in 1948 by the Communist authorities, Bishop Suciu was jailed in Sighet where he died in 1953.

Alexandru Rusu (November 22, 1884 – May 9, 1963) was the first bishop of the Greek-Catholic Diocese of Maramureş and elected in 1946 as the Metropolitan of the Romanian Church United with Rome.

He studied in Bistrita, Targu Mures, Blaj, and Budapest where he obtained his doctorate in theology.

On July 20, 1910, he was ordained a priest. He was a professor at Blaj, a metropolitan secretary, a canonist, and rector of the Theological Academy in Blaj. From 1931, after being installed as bishop of Maramures (in 1930), he was a senator in the Romanian Parliament.

On March 16, 1946 he was elected as Metropolitan of the Romanian Church United with Rome.

On October 28, 1948 he was arrested and imprisoned in Bucharest, Dragoslavele, Căldăruşani, Sighet, Cocosu Monastery, and Gherla, where he suffered from a kidney disease. Bishop Rusu died in prison in Sighet.

Ioan Balan (February 11, 1880 – August 4, 1959)

Born in Teius, he studied theology in Budapest and Vienna and was consecrated as a priest in 1903.  In 1936 he was consecrated Bishop of Lugoj, after Alexandru Nicolescu became Metropolitan of Făgăraş and Alba Iulia.

Arrested in October 1948 after refusing to align himself with the Orthodox Church. He was imprisoned at Dragoslavele, Căldăruşani, Sighet, Curtea de Argeş, and Ciorogârla. He remained there in isolation until he became seriously ill when he was transferred to Bucharest where he died. He was buried at the Bellu Catholic Cemetery. Bishop Balan has never been tried or convicted.

Tit Liviu Chinezu (June 22, 1904 – January 15, 1955)

Born in a priestly family in Huduc, Mures County, he went to Rome in 1925 to study.  He received his Doctorate in Sacred Theology in 1930, the year in which he was ordained a priest.

He was a professor at Blaj, Rector of the Theological Academy in Blaj, then the Bucharest Archpriest.

Arrested in October 1948, he was secretly consecrated as a Bishop on December 24/25, 1949. He was never tried or convicted. Bishop Chinezu was sent to Sighet where he died of hypothermia.

Iuliu Hossu (January 30, 1885 – May 28, 1970)

Iuliu Hossu studied in Cluj, Budapest, Vienna and Rome, obtaining doctorates in Philosophy and Theology.  Pope Benedict XV consecrated him Bishop of Gherla on December 4, 1917.

Bishop Hossu was the one who read the Proclamation of the Union of Transylvania with Romania on December 1, 1918.  He was appointed Assistant of the Pontifical Throne on September 16, 1936 becoming Monsignor, and Apostolic Administrator of Oradea Mare from 1936 to 1947.

Pope Paul VI raised him, in pectore, to the rank of Cardinal in 1969. Bishop Hossu was arrested on October 28, 1948, imprisoned at Dragoslavele, Sighet, and Gherla until 1964. He was kept in confinement near Bucharest until he died in 1970.