Iuliu Hirțea (13 April 1914—28 June 1978) was a

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

n bishop of the Greek-Catholic Church. Born in Vintere village,

Bihor County Bihor County (, ) is a county (județ) in western Romania. With a total area of , Bihor is Romania's 6th largest county geographically and the main county in the historical region of Crișana. Its capital city is Oradea (Nagyvárad). Toponymy ...

, he attended high school in

Beiuș Beiuș (; ) is a municipiu, city in Bihor County, Romania near the Apuseni Mountains. The river Crișul Negru flows through Beiuș, and the city administers a single village, Delani (''Gyalány''). Between the late 18th and very early 20th centu ...

, entering the seminary in

Oradea Oradea (, , ; ; ) is a city in Romania, located in the Crișana region. It serves as the administrative county seat, seat of Bihor County and an economic, social, and cultural hub in northwestern Romania. The city lies between rolling hills on ...

upon graduation in 1931. A year later, he went to the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for Catholic missions, missionary work and related activities. It is also kn ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, receiving a doctorate in theology. He was ordained a priest in Rome in 1937, by Bishop Valeriu Traian Frențiu. His return to Romania was marked by the handover to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

Northern Transylvania Northern Transylvania (, ) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920-1946), Kingdom ...

in 1940. From that year until 1945, he was secretary to Frențiu at his headquarters in Beiuș. He then started teaching at the Oradea seminary, following the area's reincorporation into Romania at the end of World War II. In late 1948, the new

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

outlawed the Greek-Catholic Church; Hirțea had been arrested in the spring of that year.Episcopul greco-catolic Iuliu Hirțea – 30 de ani de la intrarea lui în Eternitate
at the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic site; accessed May 15, 2012 He was held without trial and released fifteen months later. At the request of Frențiu, who had been arrested, he was secretly consecrated auxiliary bishop of the Oradea Mare Diocese by Gerald Patrick O'Hara in July 1949, although he accepted reluctantly, as the office interrupted his project of a critical edition of the Bible. He carried out his duties until being arrested in December 1952 and condemned by the Military Tribunal of Oradea to 12 years of forced labor for high treason. He was sent to prisons in

, Văcărești,

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 ...

Târgu Ocna Târgu Ocna (; ) is a town in Bacău County, Romania. It administers two villages, Poieni and Vâlcele. The town is situated on the left bank of the Trotuș River, an affluent of the Siret, and on a branch railway which crosses the Ghimeș Pa ...

Pitești Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the river Argeș (river), Argeș. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated in th ...

Satu Mare Satu Mare (; ; ; or ) is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011). It is the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the centre of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. It lies in the region of Maramureș, broadly part of Transylvania ...

, Dej, and

Gherla Gherla (; ; ) is a municipality in Cluj County, Romania (in the historical region of Transylvania). It is located from Cluj-Napoca on the river Someșul Mic, and has a population of 19,873 as of 2021. Three villages are administered by the city: ...

, being released in July 1964. He returned to Oradea, his health weakened by interrogations and torture and suffering from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. He continued to perform his role until dying in 1978.Episcopul Iuliu Hirțea
at the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic site; accessed May 15, 2012 He was buried in Oradea's Rulikovski Cemetery; in 2007, his remains were reinterred in the city's St. Nicholas Cathedral.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirtea, Iuliu 1914 births 1978 deaths People from Bihor County Romanian Greek-Catholic bishops Romanian anti-communist clergy Eastern Catholic bishops in Romania Romanian prisoners and detainees People detained by the Securitate Inmates of Pitești prison Inmates of Gherla prison Inmates of Jilava Prison Inmates of Văcărești Prison Inmates of Târgu Ocna Prison