Ioan Ploscaru (19 November 1911 – 31 July 1998) 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. Born into a peasant family in

Frata Frata ( hu, Magyarfráta) is a commune in Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of eight villages: Berchieșu (''Berkenyes''), Frata, Oaș, Olariu, Pădurea Iacobeni, Poiana Frății (''Bethlentanya''), Răzoare (''Rozor'') and Sopor ...

commune,

Cluj County Cluj County (; german: Kreis Klausenburg, hu, Kolozs megye) is a county ( județ) of Romania, in Transylvania. Its seat ( ro, Oraș reședință de județ) is Cluj-Napoca (german: Klausenburg). Name In Hungarian, it is known as ''Kolozs megye ...

, he studied 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 was ordained a priest in 1933 and a bishop in November 1948. The latter ordainment was performed in secret by

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 ...

Gerald O'Hara Gerald Patrick Aloysius O'Hara (May 4, 1895 – July 16, 1963) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (1929-1935), as bishop of the Roman Catholi ...

, shortly after 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 the church and arrested his predecessor,

Ioan Bălan Ioan Bălan (11 February 1880 – 4 August 1959) was a Romanian bishop of the Greek-Catholic Church. Biography He was born in Teiuș, Alba County, the son of Ștefan Bălan and Ana, née Muntean. After graduating high school in Blaj, he studie ...

. Himself arrested in August 1949, Ploscaru spent a number of years in detention, including at the notorious

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 ...

. After the collapse of the regime in 1989 and the church's legalization, he was the first Greek-Catholic bishop to officiate at a mass. This took place in January 1990, with the

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 ...

Banat Metropolitan Nicolae Corneanu quickly agreeing to restore the Greek-Catholic churches in his province to their former owners. Ploscaru retired in 1996Arhiepiscopul Ioan Ploscaru
at the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic site; accessed April 25, 2012 and dies two years later in

Lugoj Lugoj (; hu, Lugos; german: Lugosch; sr, Лугош, Lugoš; bg, Лугож; tr, Logoş) is a list of cities and towns in Romania, city in Timiș County, Romania. The Timiș River divides the city into two halves, the so-called "Romanian Lugoj" ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ploscaru, Ioan 1911 births 1998 deaths People from Cluj County Romanian Greek-Catholic bishops Romanian anti-communist clergy Romanian prisoners and detainees People detained by the Securitate Inmates of Sighet prison Eastern Catholic bishops in Romania