Ioan Bălan (11 February 1880 – 4 August 1959) was a

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

n bishop of the Greek-Catholic Church.

Biography

He was born in

Teiuș Teiuș (, german: Dreikirchen, Dornstadt; hu, Tövis) is a town in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania, with a population of 7,284 inhabitants. The town, declared as such in 1994, administers four villages: Beldiu (''Marosbéld''), Căpud (''Ma ...

, Alba County, the son of Ștefan Bălan and Ana, née Muntean. After graduating high school in

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

, he studied theology in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, and was ordained a priest in 1903. He continued his studies in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, moved to Blaj and then in 1909 to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, where a Greek-Catholic confessor was needed. In 1919 he returned to Blaj, becoming

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

and in 1921 rector of the theological academy. In 1936, after

Alexandru Nicolescu Alexandru Nicolescu (8 July 1882—5 June 1941) was a Romanian bishop of the Greek-Catholic Church. Born in Tulgheș, Harghita County, Transylvania, he studied at the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in Rome from 1898 to 1904, ea ...

became Metropolitan of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia, he was consecrated Bishop of Lugoj. In 1948, the new

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 ...

outlawed his church and he was arrested in October after refusing to convert to

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates i ...

y. He was taken first to

Dragoslavele Dragoslavele is a commune in the northern part of Argeș County, Muntenia, Romania, located by the former border between Wallachia and Transylvania, on the Wallachian side. It is a relatively important location for boarding house tourism. The comm ...

Monastery, then to in early 1949 and to

Sighet Prison The Sighet prison, located in the city of Sighetu Marmației, Maramureș County, Romania, was used by Romania to hold criminals, prisoners of war, and political prisoners. It is now the site of the Sighet Memorial Museum, part of the Memorial ...

in mid-1950. In 1955, he was forced to live at

Curtea de Argeș Monastery Curtea ( hu, Kurtya) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Coșava ( hu, Kossó), Curtea and Homojdia ( hu, Homapatak). Geography Curtea is located in the northeast of Timiș County, close to the border of Hun ...

. The following year he was taken to , a nunnery in

Ciorogârla Ciorogârla is a commune in the southwestern part of Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Ciorogârla and Dârvari. The Ciorogârla River flows through this location; its name, of Slavic origin, means "murky stream". ...

. He remained there in isolation until he became gravely ill and was taken to a Bucharest hospital, where he died. He was buried at the Bellu Catholic cemetery. Bălan was never tried or sentenced. Episcop Ioan Balan

Bălan and six other prelates who were held as political prisoners during Romania's Communist rule were beatified personally by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

Liberty Field Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

, Romania on 2 June 2019."A joyous celebration in Romania as Pope Francis beatifies seven bishop-martyrs"
''

America Magazine ''America'' is a monthly Christian magazine published by the Jesuits of the United States and headquartered in midtown Manhattan. It contains news and opinion about Catholicism and how it relates to American politics and cultural life. It has been ...

''. 2 June 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balan, Ioan 1880 births 1959 deaths People from Teiuș Romanian Greek-Catholic bishops Romanian beatified people Romanian anti-communist clergy Romanian prisoners and detainees People detained by the Securitate Inmates of Sighet prison Burials at Bellu Cemetery Beatifications by Pope Francis University of Vienna alumni Eastern Catholic bishops in Romania