Ioan Lemeni ( hu, Lemény János; 22 April 1780 – 29 March 1861) was an ethnic Romanian prelate in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

, who served as Bishop of Făgăraş and

Primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

of the

Romanian Greek Catholic Church The Romanian Greek Catholic Church or Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic ( la, Ecclesia Graeco-Catholica Romaniae; ro, Biserica Română Unită cu Roma, Greco-Catolică), sometimes called, in reference to its Byzantine Rite, the ...

from 1833 to his resignation in 1850.

Life

Ioan Lemeni was born on 22 April 1780 in Dezmér,

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

Royal Hungary Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

. He was ordained a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

on 1 October 1805. After two years of didactic career at

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 ...

, as Professor of Philosophy and Church History, in 1807 he was appointed parish and protopop of Cluj. He was archpriest of

Cluj ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

and, after 1829, secretary of the bishop of Făgăraş-Alba Iulia

Ioan Bob Ioan Bob, (1739 – 2 October 1830) was Bishop of Făgăraş and Primate of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church from 1783 to his death in 1830. Life Ioan Bob was born from a noble Romanian family in October or November 1739 in Orman, near Iclod ...

to who he succeeded on 23 August 1832. His appointment to the Diocese of Făgăraş, i.e. Primate of the Church, was confirmed by

Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He h ...

on 16 Apr 1833, so becoming the Primate of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church. Because he was not yet a bishop, he was consecrated a

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

on 6 June 1833 by

Samuil Vulcan Samuil Vulcan (1 August 1758 – 25 December 1839) was the Bishop of the Diocese of Oradea Mare of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church from 1806 to 1839. Life Vulcan was born on 1 August 1758 in Veza, a former village which has since been in ...

, bishop of the Diocese of Oradea Mare. The press of that period attests that he was able to preach even four times a day. Usually, his sermons were elaborated in Hungarian, Ioan Lemeni being seriously criticized by a part of Romanian historians who ignored the specific historical context from that time. In 1845 after a long and bitter dispute, Ioan Lemeni dismissed

Simion Bărnuțiu Simion Bărnuțiu (; 21 July 1808 – 28 May 1864) was a Transylvanian, later Romanian historian, academic, philosopher, jurist, and liberal politician. A leader of the 1848 revolutionary movement of Transylvanian Romanians, he represented its ...

from

. Together with the Orthodox Bishop

Andrei Şaguna Andrei, Andrey or Andrej (in Cyrillic script: Андрэй , Андрей or Андреј) is a form of Andreas/ Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include: *Andrei of Polotsk (–1399), Lithuanian nobleman *An ...

he had a role in the

Hungarian Revolution of 1848 The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 or fully Hungarian Civic Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. Although th ...

supporting the union of

with

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and so opposing the Austrian government. For this reason, as required by the Austrian government, he had to resign in March 1850. After his resignation, he went to

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

, where he died on 29 March 1861.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemeni, Ioan 1780 births 1861 deaths 18th-century Romanian people 19th-century Romanian people Primates of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church Romanian people in the Principality of Transylvania (1711–1867) People from Cluj County 18th-century Eastern Catholic bishops 19th-century Eastern Catholic bishops