Alexandru Todea (5 June 1912, Teleac,

Mureș County Mureș County (, ro, Județul Mures, hu, Maros megye) is a county (''județ'') of Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania, with the administrative centre in Târgu Mureș. The county was established in 1968, after the administrative ...

–22 May 2002,

Târgu Mureș Târgu Mureș (, ; hu, Marosvásárhely ) is the seat of Mureș County in the historical region of Transylvania, Romania. It is the 16th largest Romanian city, with 134,290 inhabitants as of the 2011 census. It lies on the Mureș River, the ...

) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Greek-Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...

bishop of the Alba Iulia Diocese and later cardinal. He was also a victim of the

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

, suffering at

Jilava Jilava is a commune in Ilfov county, Muntenia, Romania, near Bucharest. It is composed of a single village, Jilava. The name derives from a Romanian word of Slavic origin ( Bulgarian жилав ''žilav'' (tough), which passed into Romanian as '' ...

, Sighet, and Pitești prisons. Born into a peasant family, Todea was the 13th of 16 children. After attending primary school in his native village, and high school in

Reghin Reghin (; hu, Szászrégen, or ; german: (Sächsisch) Regen) is a city in Mureș County, Transylvania, central Romania, on the Mureș River. As of 2011, it had a population of 33,281.Rezultatele finale ale Recensământului din 2011: Locat ...

and

Blaj Blaj (; archaically spelled as ''Blaș''; hu, Balázsfalva; german: Blasendorf; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Blußendref'') is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 20,630 inhabitants. The landmark of the city is the f ...

Metropolitan bishop In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis. Originally, the term referred to the ...

Vasile Suciu send him to pursue his

theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...

studies in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. He received his doctorate from the

Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide The Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide () was established in 1627 for the purpose of training missionaries to spread Catholicism around the world (the Latin term "''de propaganda fide''" means “for the propagation of the faith”). ...

and returned to Romania in 1940. He was consecrated Cardinal-Priest on 28 June 1991 and given the

titular church In the Catholic Church, a titular church is a church in Rome that is assigned to a member of the clergy who is created a cardinal. These are Catholic churches in the city, within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Rome, that serve as honorary des ...

of Sant'Atanasio a Via Tiburtina. Todea is buried at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in

References

* Valentin Borda and Mircea Borda, ''Alexandru Todea: protopop, episcop, mitropolit, cardinal în Biserica Română Unită cu Roma, Greco-Catolică'', Târgu-Mureș: Casa de editură Petru Maior, 1999. * Silvestru Augustin Prunduș and Clemente Plăianu, ''Cardinalul Dr. Alexandru Todea: la 80 de ani (1912-1992)'', Ordinul Sfînful Vasile cel Mare, Provincia "Sf. Apostoli Petru si Pavel", 1992. * Silvestru Augustin Prunduș and Clemente Plăianu, ''Catolicism și Ortodoxie Românească – scurt istoric al Bisericii Române Unite'', Cluj-Napoca: Casa de Editură Viața Creștină, 1994. 1912 births 2002 deaths People from Mureș County Romanian cardinals Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star of Romania Primates of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Pontifical Urban University alumni Honorary members of the Romanian Academy Romanian anti-communist clergy Romanian prisoners and detainees People detained by the Securitate Inmates of Sighet prison Inmates of Râmnicu Sărat prison Inmates of Pitești prison 20th-century Eastern Catholic archbishops 20th-century Romanian people 21st-century Eastern Catholic archbishops 20th-century cardinals Eastern Catholic bishops in Romania {{EasternCatholic-bishop-stub