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PROGRESS AND EMANCIPATION THROUGH INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE. CASE STUDY: ROMANIAN UNIATE CHURCH (1891-1918)
Sorin RUSSU, PhD, ”1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba-Iulia
Abstract: The study presents the context and development phases of the role assumed by the Romanian Uniate Church, that is promoter of culture as determinant factor in preparing Union from 1918. Historical-political realities obliged the Church to take measures that focused on encouraging and supporting all cultural domains, as means of preserving the Romanian element in Transylvania. Development of spiritual and material needs of the Romanian nation from Transylvania determined the Uniate Church to assume this role in an institutional manner. The status of the Romanian Uniate Church in relation to the Crown, allowed it to express granted and guaranteed liberties, yet many times unkept, to a sufficient degree to initiate a Romanian cultural movement in Transylvania. The great bishops and scholars of the Uniate Church, educated in universities of the civilized world, Rome, Vienna, Paris, completely understood necessity of subsuming this cultural movement under an institutionalized pattern. We refer here to those fundamental institutions whose contribution to identification and maintaining Romanian elements was significant: school, museum, library, theatre, organized exhibitions, conferences and dissertations defended in an institutional pattern, cultural associations. Also a cultural movement consisting of exceptional individualities from the field of music, painting and literature existed complementarily to this institutionalized cultural movement. The ensemble of the actions taken by this complementary cultural movement had a much more direct impact and was felt more thoroughly by the Romanian population through simplicity and easiness of their understanding.
Keywords: cultural movement, institutionalization, culture, emancipation, church
Without doubt, culture is one of the main factors of progress. Both at institutional and individual level, culture imposes the pace of one nation’s emancipation. The category of Transylvanian Romanian nation is no exception from these principles, only their context of applicability being different. In the dualist Austrian-Hungarian Empire, wherein Romanians as cultural entity were permanently discriminated, subjected to forced Magyarization at all levels, by which the legitimate wish of preserving Romanian national identity was regarded as revolt against domination, talking about a national cultural movement seems almost irrational. And still, this cultural movement existed through the two Romanian churches from Transylvania, the Uniate and the Orthodox one. Area and liberty of action of each Church depended on the status they had in relation with the Empire. If about the Romanian Orthodox Church we may assert that it had a status of tolerated confession, in the case of the Romanian Uniate Church the status of officially accepted church was strengthened and underlined within the Empire and by the Apostolic See of Rome. This status allowed the Romanian Uniate Church to express granted and guaranteed liberties, yet many times unkept, to a sufficient degree to initiate a Romanian cultural movement in Transylvania. The great bishops and scholars of the Uniate Church, educated in universities of the civilized world, Rome, Vienna, Paris, completely understood necessity of subsuming this cultural movement under an institutionalized pattern. We refer here to those fundamental institutions whose contribution to identification and maintaining Romanian elements was
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SECTION: HISTORY LDMD I significant: school, museum, library, theatre, organized exhibitions, conferences and dissertations defended in an institutional pattern, cultural associations. Complementary to this institutionalised cultural movement existed also a cultural movement formed from exceptional individualities, from the field of music, painting and literature. The ensemble of the actions taken by this complementary cultural movement had a much more direct impact and was felt more thoroughly by the Romanian population through simplicity and easiness of their understanding. The high degree of illiteracy of Romanian population from Transylvania, especially from the rural areas, obliged the Unite Church to prioritise actions and domains that it was going to patronise. Obviously, the issue of confessional schools from localities with preponderant Romanian population was a first priority. The issue was extensively debated and we will not insist on it, here. All the other cultural directions were marked by the Uniate Church, as ecclesiastic patron and were assumed, either directly by it, or indirectly by different forms of support of activities carried out by third parties. There may be noticed a constant and positive evolution of the Romanian cultural movement from Transylvania, with national accents and even nationalist. The time span of 27 years aimed at by the research, period between 1891 and 1918, demonstrates the arousing interest of Romanian population from rural world, following successes registered in the urban environment. The evolution is noticeable year-by-year, number of cultural manifestations, irrespective of their nature, increasing quantitatively, but also qualitatively. We can demonstrate even existence of adequacy between the number of beneficiaries of the cultural act, number of cultural acts and artistic value of the cultural act. Affirmation of the Uniate Church on cultural level in Transylvanian context starts once with initiative of the illustrious bishop Inochentie Micu Clain of establishing the first schools in Blaj, those Fountains of gifts as Petru Pavel Aron, the successor to the Episcopal seat named them in 1754. Yet, we refer here to a personal initiative owed to visionariness of some remarkable ecclesiastic personalities of the time who understood the real potential of Church, relatively newly accepted in the family of universal Catholicism. For almost two centuries, the cultural activity initiated and sponsored by the Uniate Church, depended largely on the Bishops’ wish of affirming the church also on this plan, often used as cover for national emancipation. Historical- political realities obliged the Church to take measures that focused on encouraging and supporting all cultural domains, as means of preserving the Romanian element in Transylvania. Research of existent documents or recorded in different important works allow us assume that there existed three different stages in the development of the purpose followed by the Church through promotion of culture. The first stage may belong to period between 1700 and 1845 and mainly followed to keep Romanian identity assets, the basic direction being that of Uniate confessional education. The second phase, spanning between 1846- 11 November 1918 was the most important from the point of view of consistency of actions with national character, strongly overlapping with cultural actions. We remember here only the position of the Uniate Church in the revolutionary act from 1848. The third stage, between 12 November 1918 and 31 December 1918 fulfilled the wish of Transylvanian Romanians, union with the mother country, Romania. This phasing allows careful observation of details of actions carried out by the Uniate Church and implicitly by Unirea newspaper, as its main semi-official organ. There must be 516
SECTION: HISTORY LDMD I mentioned here reciprocity of relation culture-national fight, as primary characteristic of the Transylvanian Romanian cultural movement. Development of spiritual and material necessities of the Romanian nation from Transylvania determined the Uniate Church to assume institutionally the role of promoter of culture. If in the first phase culture was promoted by the Church by the unilateral wish of the bishop, according to the followed purpose, the second phase is marked by a radical change of view, culture being found in the text of the IIIrd Provincial Synod from 1909. Initiatives and approaches for institutionalization of culture in the Uniate Church existed also before the IIIrd Provincial Synod, yet without being materialised. This fact was owed either to mistrust in the proposed solutions or in the political peril sized up by the Metropolitan bishops, who did not want deterioration of relations with the Crown, the main sponsor of the Uniate Church. Ever since 1891, Unirea newspaper publishes the proposition1, „having the features of a private initiative, and not at all an officious initiative”, of the canon Augustin Bunea that the Church to accept issuance of a decree concerning the scholastic fund, in fact an annual collection mandatorily imposed to each Uniate parishes. The fee was moderate, but was applied for each member of the family, according to the principle a little, but from many. Mathematically was demonstrated possibility of increasing the fund from 26.000 crowns to 400.000 crowns in one year. Proposition was not accepted, and reasons remain unknown. We may only suspect that Church hierarchy did not wish to load its believers with another fee, although this argument is tackled in the article:
„our nation is not enthusiast to make good things, when the priest does not wish to enlighten and awake it. If the priest would use all opportunities to initiate the nation into its cultural interests, and importance of good deeds, which ensure not only temporary happiness but also that eternal for everyone, then also amongst our nation would occur numerous examples of admirable deeds”.
The appeal is resumed in 1893, when extension of the Gymnasium from Blaj is proposed by construction of a new building, due to the more and more numerous demands from the students. Unirea newspaper publishes the article Prin cultură la libertate (Through culture to liberty) 2 presenting valid cultural and national arguments: „Existence and bloom of the gymnasium from Blaşiu is a matter of honour for the whole Romanian nation”, „the greatest monument of Romanian national culture”, „Success of the appeal is a question of honour, of progress and national preservation”. It is given as example France that, once with disbanding of confessional schools, appealed to the population, succeeding to gather ever since the first day more than 4 million francs. Of course, this example is the least questionable. The estimated amount of money to be gathered was thus 100. 000 crowns, yet this threshold was never reached.
1 Augustin Bunea, Colecta Cruceriului, in Unirea, Year I, issue 16, 18th Apr. 1891, pp.121-123. 2 Prin cultură la libertate, in Unirea, Year III, issue 47, 25th Nov. 1893, pp.377-378. 517
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A new approach is recorded by Unirea newspaper in 1896, by publication of leading article Asociaţiunea3(Association), whose nationalist trend is obvious: „[...] culture is freedom. Until we will not educate, we do not deserve freedom. Freedom is good only for an educated man, who knows to use his mind, that God endowed him with.” The article is dominated by the message of necessity of enlightening the Transylvanian Romanian nation to preserve the Romanian element, with everything that involves: Romanian language, religious feelings, Romanian customs and traditions. A similar message is encountered in the article entitled Viaţa nostră culturală4(Our cultural life) published in the 24th issue of Unirea newspaper from 1901: „Without national freedom there may not exist authentic cultural national life, similarly indisputable is, that without political fight, without tendencies of national emancipation, there cannot be imagined cultural development, or economic, or intellectual”. The theme of the fund for cultural activities, mainly for scholar necessities is definitively regulated in 1909, by the new canons included in the status of the Uniate Church referring to culture, within the IIIrd Provincial Synod from Blaj, carried out between 23rd-26th November 1909. A first article published in the first issue from 1st January 1910, entitled Fondul cultural 5 (The cultural fund), militates in favour of Romanian Uniate schools, underlining necessity of directing this fund only for support of Romanian schools from Transylvania. The amount of money established as necessary and sufficient to the fund was 1.000.000 crowns. Unfortunately, this money existed only theoretically, practically following to be gathered from Greek-Catholic believers from everywhere. On this line, the Church issues a statement with a value of law towards all Uniate parishes, applicable throughout the whole territory of the metropolitan province, on the strength of recently statutable canons. Its printing in Unirea newspaper from 5 January 1910 preserved the text of the statement:
„Thus, knowing You a coryphaeus of our church and knowing You ready to sacrifice for the wellbeing of the parish, we are confidently asking You, also to cooperate to realisation of the creation, which is the purpose of the <
Thus, the manner identified by the Church to raise the Cultural fund consisted in printing some bonds of a certain value that the Greek-Catholic believer could pay in instalments by redemption, or one could pay the whole amount without making use of the bond. Noteworthy is, that in the 5th issue of Unirea newspaper from 29 January 1910, it is criticised the position of
3 Asociaţiunea, in Unirea, Year VI, issue 35, 29th Aug. 1896, pp.273-274. 4 Viaţa nostră culturală, in Unirea, Year XI, issue 24, 15th Jun. 1901, p.193. 5 Fondul cultural, in Unirea, Year XX, issue 1,1st Jan. 1910, pp.1-2. 6 The statement of the Uniate Church concerning the Cultural fund, in Unirea, Year XX, issue 3, 5th Jan. 1910, pp.24-25. 518
SECTION: HISTORY LDMD I the Church adopted 10 years ago at the proposition of Augustin Bunea, a simple calculation evidencing loss of more than 400.000 of crowns during this time interval. The first redeemed bond belonged to academician Andrei Bârsean, teacher at the secondary school from Braşov, who paid back the whole sum that he benefited of during undergraduate courses7. At the same time, he appeals to all who benefited of different stipends throughout their studies to return these amounts to the Cultural fund. A simple calculation shows that only from the former stipendiary clerics might have been recuperated almost 100.000 crowns. A similar appeal8 is made also by the Metropolitan bishop Vasile Suciu in 1923, once with his decision of building the Appreciation Institute from Blaj. The unanimous attitude to this appeal of former stipendiaries from Blaj is reflected by the letter9 of the prefect of Târnava- Mică county, Emil Folea, published in the pages of Unirea newspaper as a noteworthy example. The greatest surprise as concerns the subject matter of the cultural fund is published in more issues of Unirea newspaper, starting with the 14th issue from 2nd April 1910, within which, on the first page appears the imposing figure of philanthropist Vasile de Stroescu, donor of 100.000 crowns for the Cultural fund. If value of the donated sum is shocking by quantity, the new letter10 forwarded to Capitulary administration shocks by quality and may be catalogued as manifest of good understanding amongst Christians of the two Romanian confessions from Transylvania: „We received your appeal by which you invite Greek-Catholic Romanians to participate in establishment of the Cultural fund of the Greek-Catholic Archdiocese of Alba Iulia and Făgăraş. You should appeal to all Romanians irrespective of their confession. To our happiness, difference of confession is not separating us. Romanian nation, although belongs to two confessions, within their national dreams, remains united and undivided. This unity comes from the strong national feeling of everyone, and largely is owed to dignity of the clergy of both confessions. Although I am not Greek-Catholic, Uniate, but because Romanians belonging to both confessions live as authentic Christians and consequently as brothers, as answer to your appeal, I subscribe to the use of the cultural Greek-Catholic fund the amount of one hundred thousand crowns, out of which – ten thousand crowns, I am posting through money order now and the rest of ninety thousand I will sent until autumn, until 1st December current year, the latest”. Consistent donations of philanthropist Stroescu were registered subsequently also for the Cultural fund from Sibiu - 100.000 crowns, followed by other 300.000 crowns for the Reunion of Romanian women from Arad, with the special mention to establish a Romanian school for girls, project developed by the reunion. Unirea newspaper does not offer sufficient information, at least for the period aimed at by our research, regarding reaching the established upper limit of 1.000.000 crowns. As a matter of fact, it is unlikely that all hypothetical calculations made initially to correspond to realities from the field. The frequent appeals to continuation of supplying process of the Cultural fund entitle us to previous assertion. This fact was felt also in the area of cultural
7 See Unirea, Year XX, issue 6, 5th Feb. 1910, pp.49-50. 8 See Unirea, Year XXXIV, issue 1, 6th Jan. 1924, p.3. 9 Idem, Year XXXIV, issue 3, 18th Jan. 1924, p.2. 10 The letter of the philanthropist Vasile de Stroescu addressed to Capitulary administration and published in Unirea, Year XX, issue 14, 2nd Apr. 1910, pp.113-114. 519
SECTION: HISTORY LDMD I activities belonging to theatre, museology etc. each of them being subsequently obliged to create their own fund. For example, Fund of the Romanian theatre, Fund of the national house, Fund of the reunion of Romanian women, etc. Inclusion within norms of the Uniate Church of articles concerning realisation of a fund to allow continuity of some cultural actions, such as also the public debate initiated by Unirea newspaper on this subject, opened an authentic Pandora’s Box related to the training of priests in the ecclesiastical and civil legislative field. It was needed of clergy’s emancipation in relation with civil authorities, especially in the rural environment. Considerable amounts of money that might have been directed towards cultural actions were lost annually due to priests’ ignorance. Rural population was indirectly exposed to these losses, if we take into consideration the fact that in majority of the cases the peasant appealed to the priest as intermediary in relation with the State. Attention paid by the Church to this aspect continuously speculated by Hungarian authorities has as immediate consequence publication of some reference works especially devised for the clergy. The first work entitled Îndreptariu în causa dărilor directe de stat - pentru oficii parohiale greco catolice (Handbook for Greek-Catholic parishes concerning the direct taxes to the state), is published by the Uniate Archbishopric of Blaj, probably by the archiepiscopal treasurer and is printed to the publishing house of the Theological Seminary from Blaj in 1896. Although we could not identify 11 the work in the libraries and archives researched in our doctoral approach, results of its application in parishes were reflected in the annual parochial balance sheets. The fact was reflected also in the pages of Unirea newspaper by decrease of the number of financial demands from some priests or parishes, published as support appeals. The indirect beneficiary of these norms’ application was Romanian population from the rural environment, frequently ignorant and ignored, who gradually became aware of necessity of own intellectual development. The second work, entitled Stilistica practică sau Regule şi Exemple pentru tot felul de epistole, cereri, acte şi documente, cari vin mai des înainte în viaţa de tote zilele (Practical stylistics or Rules and Examples of everyday documents), belongs to teacher Ioan F. Negruţiu from Blaj. It was published by the publishing house of the Theological Seminary from Blaj and represented a decisive step towards evolution in correction and positioning of the relation between local authorities and Romanian population from Transylvania. Both works are presented in the 18th issue of Unirea newspaper from 2nd February 1896 at page 144. A testimony of the Uniate priest Russu Petru from Miceştii de Câmpie parish passed down from generation to generation12, records joy of Romanian believers from the locality on the occasion of autumn festivities organised by priest Petru out of money saved by correction of taxes towards the state. Obviously, dimension of these festivities must fall within round dances organised in the middle of the village after the Sunday service, the money in this case, being used to pay the fiddlers. Occasionally, brief sketches, with songs and poem reciting were organised in the yard of the parochial house, during these festivities. There was no programme
11 It is possible that from this work not to exist any copy. 12 Russu family has 7 generations of Greek-Catholic priests, Petru Russu being the fourth generation; Octavian Russu-priest in Gheja, Octavian Cornel Russu – priest in Luduş and Sorin Valer Russu – priest in Luduş, the seventh generation, author of this work. 520
SECTION: HISTORY LDMD I established beforehand; cheerfulness and spontaneity of participants to the event dictated its fluency and duration.
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