(1885-1970)
Graeco-Catholic Bishop of Gherla (from 1917) and then of Cluj-Gherla (from 1930), militant for national Union. He read out the “Proclamation of Union with Romania” at Alba-Iulia on 1 December 1918. A member of the Governing Council, he was part of the delegation that presented the Decision of Union to King Ferdinand in Bucharest. Senator in the Parliament of Romania. After the Vienna Diktat, he remained in Transylvania during the Horthy occupation, protesting on numerous occasions against the repression to which the Romanian and Jewish population were subjected by the Hungarian authorities.
Arrested on 28 October 1948, he was deprived of his freedom for twenty-two years, passing through various prisons and places of house arrest. Between 25 May 1950 and 4 January 1955, he was imprisoned together with fifty other Graeco-Catholic and Roman Catholic priests and bishops in Sighet penitentiary. He was then placed under house arrest for an unlimited period, first at Ciorogirla Monastery, then at Caldarusani Monastery. Gravely ill, he died on 28 May 1970, at Colentina Hospital in Bucharest. In March 1969, Pope Paul VI declared him a cardinal “in pectore” of the Roman Catholic Church, a decision that was not made public until 5 May 1973.
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