The religion of the so-called "csangos"

Settled in Moldavia, the so-called “csangos”

kept the Roman Catholic religion which they

had in Transylvania, to their new homes being

pastored - at first - by Italian priests, Germans or

Poles priests and in some short periods by Hungarian priests.

Today's territory of Romania was - like other European territories - a missionary field where the apostles transmitted the Christian teaching, since the first century of Christianity. Christian communities developed on this territory, especially on the Black Sea coast and on the banks of the Danube. The influence of the Roman Christians among the settlers brought after the conquest of Dacia also played an important role in Christianization, reason for which the church organization of that period is closely related to the Roman administrative-territorial systematization, the Christian communities existing on the territory of Dacia being under the Pope's jurisdiction. Rome), through its vicar of Thessalonica. After the Great Schism (1054), Roman Catholic communities continued to exist, being supported by the missionary activity of the Dominican and Franciscan orders, which will lead to the consolidation and development of these Catholic Christian communities obeying the Pope (Bishop of Rome), their existence being attested in short-term dioceses south of the Carpathians, in Wallachia (Severin, Argeş) and east of the Carpathians, in Moldova (Milcov, Siret, Baia, Bacau). The Milcov Diocese (Milcovia Episcopate) was the first known Catholic diocese in Moldova, being located - most likely - in today's area of Odobești or Focșani and which had in pastoral regions of Transylvania, Milcov area (Vrancea), area Siret and Cetatea Albă (on the Dniester, today in Ukraine). In 1227, the Cuman king, his suite and 15,000 men were baptized in the Milcov river by the Archbishop of Strigonius together with the bishops Bartholomew of Pecs, Wilhelm of Veszprem and Raynald of Alba-Iulia. The first ruler of the Milcovia Episcopate was appointed by the pope, in 1227 Bishop Theodoric who pastored the community from 1227 to 1241 when both the settlement and the diocese were destroyed by the Mongols, who burned the cathedral, and the bishop was killed, together with 90 monks. Then 13 other bishops took over the leadership of the Milcovia Diocese: “Th. cumanorum humilis minister” ? - 1283; Leo ? - 1327; Vitus de Monteferro, chaplain to King Carol Robert ? - 1332; Thomas Nympti, Augustinian monk 1347-1348; Bernard of Mazovia, Polish Dominican monk 1353-1357; Albert de Usk, Dominican monk ? - 1364; Nicolae de Buda, Augustinian monk 1371-1375; Gobelinus, bishop of Alba-Iulia ? - 1386; Laurentiu ? - 1396; Emerich Zechel - 1431; Grigore Jaurini, vicar general at Strigoniu 1433-1462; Mihai Turon, auxiliary bishop of Strigoniu 1468-1493; Paul Ilsine, parish priest of Strigoniu 1501-1504; Ladislaus of Ondola ? - 1510; Dumitru - 1511; Mihai 1512-1521. In 1371 the Diocese of Siret was established (1371-1434), and in 1418 the Diocese of Baia was established (1418-1523), which played an important role in organizing Catholic life in Moldavia. Seven bishops succeeded him to the leadership of this diocese, the last being Mikhail Marinoski (1510-1523). In 1391, in addition to the Diocese of Siret, Pope Boniface IX (1389-1404) founded the Diocese of Bacau, due to " the large number of Catholics in Moldavia and their spread on the territory ." After the accession of Stephen the Great (1457-1504) to the throne of Moldavia (1457-1504), the political orientation changed, having influences on the organization of the Catholic minority in Moldova. Poland could no longer effectively support a bishop in Moldova, and therefore the diocese is integrated into Hungary. From 1818 the activity of the Catholic missionaries from Moldavia was coordinated from Iaşi, the headquarters of the Apostolic Vicariate of Moldavia, at the helm of which 14 apostolic visitors succeeded one another, the last being Nicolae Iosif Camilli, appointed on September 16, 1881. On June 27, 1884, through the papal bull "Quae in christiani nominis incrementum", Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) decided to end the Apostolic Vicariate of Moldavia, which had existed since 1818, and decreed the establishment of the Catholic Episcopate of Iasi. Nicolae Iosif Camilli, a former apostolic visitor between 1881-1884, was appointed bishop. Later the episcopate was led by Dominic Jaquet, Alexandru Theodor Cisar, Mihai Robu and Anton Durcovici who were residential bishops, otherwise, at the head of the diocese, there were apostolic administrators and "ordinary substitutes". The first bishop from Moldova was Mihai Robu, from Săbăoani, Neamț County. Currently, Moldovan Catholics are organized in 10 deaneries and 158 parishes, living peacefully with other residents of any religion.

Catholic missionaries about the so-called "csangos" from Moldova

Excerpt

from

the

book

“The

origin

of

the

csangos

from

Moldova”

-

author,

professor

Dumitru

Mărtinaș

• As early as 1234, a papal letter mentions that on the territory of the diocese of Milcov, Catholics mingled with the Wallachians, converted to their faith, becoming a people with them. • The same mention, regarding the transition of Catholics to the Orthodox religion, is made by Archbishop Marco Bandini in the report prepared by him in Bacău, on March 2, 1648, a document in which were noted the findings made during the visit of the high prelate to Catholic localities in Moldova. • In 1763, the Bishop of Bacău, Stanislau Jezierski noted that “ … in all Moldova the number of Catholics increases only through Catholics coming from Transylvania… ” and because these “ … Transylvanian Catholics belong to the Hungarian rule… Moldovans do not call them Catholics but Hungarians… ”. • Also in 1763, Iosif Cambioli, Prefect of the Franciscan Mission in Moldova, recorded “ … for seven years now, the number of our Catholics has increased and increases every day, not because non-Catholics would come to us, but because in Hungary even more elected in Transylvania was and is starving and now, since the peace between the Austrians and the Prussians ended, they catch soldiers by force and that is why whole families and a large number of young people from 14 years onwards have come and come in this province, because from this age he enlisted in the army… ”. According to Catholic missionaries, in addition to the heavy economic burdens (huge taxes and fees paid by Transylvanian Romanians), which led Romanian peasants to take refuge in Moldova, was forced military service, introduced by the Austrian authorities aimed at annexing Transylvania and Bucovina, with the aim of increasing the army. • In order to expand their influence on Moldovan Roman Catholics, Hungarian missionaries tried to influence the decisions taken at the Vatican, suggestive in this regard being the letter addressed to Pope Pius VI by the Bishop of Alba Iulia Ignatius Batthyani who expressed sorrow for the fate of Catholic believers in Moldova, stating that they understand only the Hungarian language, that Italian missionaries do not preach, confess or catechize in the language of the people, Bishop Ignatius Batthyani calling for the withdrawal of Italian missionaries and their replacement by Hungarian missionaries. Knowing the realities of Moldavia, on January 7, 1788, Pope Pius VI responded to Bishop Ignatius Batthyani, telling him that it was not necessary to be sad because Italian missionaries use Romanian in pastoral care, which is the native language of the vast majority of the population. Catholics from Moldova and for the Hungarian-speaking believers, the Cardinal of Esztergom was authorized to send to Moldova, two missionaries who know Hungarian. • During the period of Bishop Ioan-Filip Paroni (1818-1825), it was no longer possible to provide missionary staff in Moldova, which is why the support of the province of the conventual Franciscans in Transylvania was requested and the pastorate was done for about 40 years by priests. maghiari. During this pastoral period, the gospel was read in Hungarian, as was the sermon, church songs and litany were sung in Hungarian, the names of the parishioners were Hungarianized and in some cases the names of the localities were Hungarianized. All these actions meant to introduce the Hungarian language in the Catholic communities of Moldova, generated a conflict between parishioners and priests, the first complaining to the Apostolic Vicar of Moldova that they do not understand anything at religious services and Hungarian missionaries complaining that the Hungarian language is dying out. Moldova. The conflict was extinguished when Hungarian missionaries were withdrawn from Moldova.

Monsignor Mihai Robu (1884-1944)

the first indigenous bishop

The reports made by the archbishop on the situation in Moldova had the gift of convincing Pope Pius XI to appoint, on May 7, 1925, a new bishop of Iasi, in the person of Monsignor Mihai Robu. He was the fourth bishop of Iasi, after Nicolae Iosif Camilli (1884-1894 and 1904-1915), Dominic Jaquet (1894-1903) and Alexandru Teodor Cisar (1920-1924). He is surprised by his name, which he did not covet. He trembles at the enormous responsibility of this mission which he receives with much faith and resignation: "O Lord, I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid" (Ps 115: 106). He announces the date of consecration, set for September 20, 1925, at 9.00 in the chapel of the Notre Dame de Sion Institute, where, 18 years ago, he was ordained. It indicates the main consecrator, the archbishop Alexandru Teodor Cisar assisted by Valeriu Traian Frenţiu, the Greek-Catholic bishop of Oradea, and Alexandru Nicolescu, the Greek-Catholic bishop of Lugoj. The pastoral activity of the venerable and beloved bishop Mihai Robu, imprinted in the souls of his collaborators and parishioners, during 19 years, five months and 22 days, reflected in thousands of archive files took place according to the well-known trinom: seminary, clergy, diocese . Care for the seminar As a successor of the apostles, Bishop Mihai Robu considered the seminar a priority task. His first pastoral letters highlight this concern. During his pastorate, 241 students were enrolled in the Diocesan Seminary in Iasi, of which 73 became priests. Most of them came from rural areas, from modest families, without economic resources. The maintenance and training of seminarians was the responsibility of the diocese, whose incomes were also modest. The bishop has always had to resort to parishioners' collections, especially at Christmas and Easter, to benefactors from abroad, and from time to time to subsidies from the state budget. He traveled to Catholic countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, to obtain scholarships so necessary for his students. In 1930 he called again (after the beginning of the period 1866-1906) the Jesuit fathers for the formation of future priests, entrusting to Father Felix Wiercinski "the leadership of our dear seminary." He keeps in touch with his students abroad, encouraging them, helping them with money for what is strictly necessary, advising them as a good parent and informing them about those at home. Care for the clergy The greatest pain in the history of Catholics in the eastern Carpathians, until the penultimate decade of the twentieth century, was the acute shortage of priests. Bishop Mihai Robu felt this lack. Therefore, he tried his best to have priests. He wanted everyone well prepared, virtuous, prudent, and zealous in the apostolate. How clearly these thoughts and feelings of the pastor are transparent, when he writes to the Franciscan conventual parish priest from Luizi Călugăra, Iosif PM Pal: “... I pray every day at the Holy Mass for my dear clergy, so that all may be healthy, zealous, prudent, parables of priestly virtues ... ”. He calls them to spiral exercises, organized in different series, so that the pastoral activity continues unhindered. To help poor priests, he asks for Mass stipends from various fellow bishops in Western Catholic countries. He speaks at state forums and the apostolic nunciature, especially after the outbreak of World War II, for priests with foreign citizenship, such as Joseph Kldzik and Joseph Chrucki of Bukovina, on whom he planned the imminent danger of being sent to concentration camps. , and the parishioners from Soloneţul Nou and Poiana Micului thus risked being left without shepherds. Very attentive to the way the priests carried out their pastoral activity, Bishop Robu intervened with wise advice and due authority, calling the "too zealous" to temperance, and others to prudence and thoughtful management of parish resources. He defends his priests who have been complained to the Ministry of Cults by some who are dissatisfied with the clichés established by the parishioners' assembly for building churches. The heroic efforts of Bishop Mihai Robu, to have priests to send to the numerous Catholic communities spread across the Moldavian to Stephen the Great, were rewarded with the great joy of the ordination of the 33 priests in the 1939 promotion. they ordained them on June 24 in the same chapel as the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion, where, 32 years ago, he had also been ordained a priest, and 14 years earlier (1925) he had been ordained a bishop. Care of the diocese The pastorate of the Diocese of Iasi by Bishop Mihai Robu has two stages: the first, 1925 - 1940, the stage of historical Moldova known during the time of Stephen the Great, and the second, of Moldova cut by the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact of June 28, 1940, with a brief return to the previous state (June 1941 - August 23, 1944). During Greater Romania, the incorporation of the Catholic communities of Bessarabia and Bucovina into the Roman Catholic Diocese of Iasi meant for Bishop Robu a 50% increase in concern for the clergy and the faithful. Although he had important collaborators in the person of the Vicar General of Bukovina, Mons. Aldabert Grabonski, and in that of Mons. Dr. Marcu Glaser, Catholic archpriest of Bessarabia and parish priest of Chisinau, the only person responsible to the Romanian government and the Holy See was the bishop of Iasi. Visiting all the Catholic communities in such a vast territory, with the means of locomotion of the time, was not an easy task. Undoubtedly, his robust constitution and apostolic courage were his real support. Mons. Robu put into practice what he wrote to others. For example, to the priest Eugen Baltheiser, parish priest of Gura Humorului, with a delegation for two other vacant parishes, Câmpulung Moldovenesc and Fălticeni, he wrote: "... do as much as your health will allow, the rest will do good God". The numerous archival documents indicate the multitude and diversity of problems that the bishop had to solve. The burden of the many branches assigned to the existing parishes was somehow eased as new priests were ordained whom he sent to help the parishes. The precarious economic situation of the diocese determined Bishop Mihai Robu to appeal to some rights that the other dioceses in the country had, both for the endowment of land and for the remuneration of priests. By the address no. 3,524 of December 1, 1930 requires that the Catholic Episcopate of Iasi be endowed with 100 ha of arable land and 300 ha of forest. With the University „Al. I. Cuza ”from Iaşi had many problems because this higher education institution rented the building of the Seminary on Copou (designed by Bishop Jaquet for the College“ Cipariu ”) immediately after the end of the First World War and still postponed the return of the building, rent and of repair costs. He even had to turn to the government. Also for the economic improvement of the diocese, advised by his advisers, he believed that a significant loan and attracting investors from abroad could be beneficial. He was disappointed, because "foreigners do not trust the Romanian economy". He was sometimes made aware by pastoral priests of some abuses committed by local state administration officials who refused to resolve the demands of the Catholic population. The bishop was obliged to resort to the highest forums to expose those abuses. He fulfilled his duty as a shepherd very carefully, being careful with dispensations and firm in his decisions. Parents urge young people to have fun at daytime choirs in the churchyard. He was attentive to special events in the life of the Catholic Church, such as 1600 years since the celebration of the first ecumenical synod at Nicaea in 325 and 1500 years since the third ecumenical synod, that of Ephesus in 431. Purity of faith, the need for union , devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, were carefully emphasized, urging Christians to earnest prayers. Ten years after the takeover of the Catholic parishes in Bukovina and 15 years after the takeover of those in Bessarabia, by the decision of the Holy See to be part of the Diocese of Iasi, the Ribbentrop- Molotov pact and Romania's entry into the war with Germany brought painful complications for Bishop Mihai Robu. Most of the priests and parishioners in the parishes of northern Bukovina left their homes and went to Germany. Some of those who remained, especially the Poles in Bessarabia, endured much of the Soviet rule, even though, only a year later, the occupied territories were recaptured. The state of war continued for four years was accompanied by specific rigors: travel bans, requisitions, suspicions about priests, additional contributions to the army, care of the wounded, widows and orphans, hiring priests for the spiritual assistance of combatants. The archive of the war years reflects the multitude and diversity of problems that the bishop had to solve: numerous requests to civilian and military authorities to obtain travel permits for himself and his collaborators, exemption from requisitions of means of transport necessary for pastoral care, permission for priests of foreign ethnicity required in some parishes. If the first years of the war were in favor of Germany and its allies, at the end of 1943, things took a tragic turn. In the spring of 1944, Soviet armies were forcing the Dniester. Moldova was severely affected. The refuge has begun. The diocesan seminary could not continue its activity. The remaining priests and parishioners in the villages took the risks. In June 1944, the building of the Diocesan Seminary on Copou was destroyed by bombs dropped by Russian aircraft. The grieving Bishop Robu went to the refuge, hosted in Beiuş, by the Greek Catholic Bishop Valeriu Traian Frenţiu. After August 23, 1944, Bishop Robu retired to the Bihor Mountains in a house of the Greek Catholic Diocese, where he became seriously ill. It passes to the eternal on the morning of September 27 of the same year. After 20 years, his bones were brought and deposited in the episcopal church, which he served with all devotion, as bishop, from 1925 to 1944. His motto, inscribed on the coat of arms of the bishop, was: "In cross salus ”(“ In the cross is salvation ”). He chose this motto inspired, which would accompany his years of pastoralism step by step. On the occasion of the great and unique event in the history of the diocese of Iasi, that of the ordination of 33 priests in 1939, they composed an exceptional festive volume, in which a first article is dedicated to the good pastor, Bishop Mihai Robu, whom the author, worthy priest and future hero, Dumitru Sandu Matei (killed by the communists in the Jilava prison on February 21, 1951), always saw him as "Our Father". I am completely associated with the illustrious author, because, during ten years, I had the great joy of being close to this "father of ours", of the seminarians, of the priests, of the whole diocese. Undoubtedly his priestly contribution, his sacrifices, as well as those of his worthy successor, the martyred bishop Dr. Anton Durcovici, and of all those who bravely remained in duty during the long communist period, we consider them as the foundation of the current prosperity.

The leaders of the Diocese of Iasi

1. Ep. Nicolae Iosif Camilli (June 27, 1884 - May 10, 1894) 2. Pr. Caietan Liverotti (May 10, 1894 - January 8, 1895) - apostolic administrator 3. Ep. Dominic Jaquet (January 8, 1895 - July 30, 1903) 4. Pr. Iosif Malinovski (July 30, 1903 - August 30, 1904) - apostolic administrator 5. Arhiep. Nicolae Iosif Camilli (August 30, 1904 - December 30, 1915) 6. Pr. Ulderic Cipolloni (January 30, 1916 - April 22, 1920) - apostolic administrator 7. Ep. Alexandru Theodor Cisar (April 22, 1920 - July 5, 1925) 8. Ep. Mihai Robu (July 5, 1925 - September 27, 1944) 9. Ep. Mark Glaser (October 18, 1944 - October 30, 1947) - apostolic administrator 10. Ep. Anton Durcovici (October 30, 1947 - June 26, 1949) 11. Ep. Mark Glaser (June 26, 1949 - May 25, 1950) - apostolic administrator 12. Pr. Gheorghe Peţ (May 25, 1950 - November 15, 1950) - ordinarius substitutus 13. Pr. Wilhelm Clofanda (November 15, 1950 - March 8, 1951) - ordinarius substitutus 14. Pr. Petru Pleşca (March 11, 1951 - December 16, 1965) - ordinarius substitutus 15. Ep. Petru Pleşca (December 16, 1965 - March 19, 1977) 16. Pr. Andrei Gherguţ (March 19, 1977 - February 21, 1978) - ordinarius substitutus 17. Mons. Petru Gherghel (February 21, 1978 - March 14, 1990) - apostolic administrator 18. Ep. Petru Gherghel (since March 14, 1990) Bishop Emeritus (since July 6, 2019) 19. Ep. Aurel Percă - auxiliary bishop (from September 29, 1999 - to January 10, 2020) 20. Ep. Iosif Păuleț (from July 6, 2019) 21. Ep. Petru Sescu (from november 11, 2021) - auxiliary bishop

Territorial distribution of Roman Catholics in the region of Moldavia - Romania.

Map

indicating

the

localities

where

there

are

important

Roman

Catholic

communities

in

the

area

of

Moldavia.

Map of the region Moldova - Romania.

which are marked by localities where there are important Roman Catholic communities in the area of Moldavia.

C O N T A C T S

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Bishops of the Diocese of Iasi

Ep. Iosif Păuleț (from July 6, 2019) Ep. Petru Sescu (from november 11, 2021) - auxiliary bishop Ep. Petru Gherghel (from March 14, 1990) - Bishop Emeritus