“The coming of the vladika”. On canonical visitations of Greek-Catholic hierarchs in the second half of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Some considerations

Abstract

Abstract: This article focuses on an interesting topic for the history of the Church and religious life of the Romanians in Transylvania, the canonical visitations of the Greek-Catholic bishops in the second half of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. The documentary contribution that we propose refers to three case studies, three canonical visitations of the period we are considering, from which a relevant documentation that allows their reconstruction remained. It is about the visit made in the Breb parish, from the Forane Vicariate of Maramureş, by the first bishop of Gherla, Ioan Alexi, on May 22, 1860, followed by the visit made by Metropolitan Ioan Vancea in three distinct points of the archdiocese of Blaj in the period 1873-1876: the deanery of Alba Iulia, the Forane Vicariate of Făgăraş and the deanery of Mureş, and finally the visit of the bishop of Gherla, Vasile Hossu, in Maramureş, between June 27 and August 4, 1913. The visit to a rural community by a high prelate was perceived, in the era we are discussing, as an exceptional event of a special importance in the collective sensibility. Of great interest to the church authorities of the time and also to the historiographical research of today, is the minute ("protocol") of the canonical visitation, a particularly useful tool for knowing the local religious and community life. This contribution aims to briefly signal the potential of scientific research on such a subject, the canonical visitations in the Greek-Catholic Church, research that deserves to be resumed and carried out at larger dimensions.