Ioan Bălan (11 February 1880 – 4 August 1959) 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. He is venerated as a Blessed in the Roman Catholic Church.

Biography

He was born in

Teiuș Teiuș (, ; ) is a town in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania, with a population of 6,308 inhabitants as of 2021. The town, declared as such in 1994, administers four villages: Beldiu (''Marosbéld''), Căpud (''Magyarkapud''), Coșlariu Nou ('' ...

Alba County Alba County () is a county (județ) of Romania located in the historic region of Transylvania. Its capital is Alba Iulia, a city with a population of 63,536. Name "Alba", meaning "white" in Latin and Romanian, is derived from the name of the ...

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

Blaj Blaj (; archaically spelled as ''Blaș''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Blußendref'') is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 17,816 inhabitants as of 2021. The city administers eight villages: Deleni-Obârșie ('' ...

, he studied theology in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

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

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, moved to Blaj and then in 1909 to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, 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 material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

and in 1921 rector of the theological academy. In 1936, after Alexandru Nicolescu 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 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 his church and he was arrested in October after refusing to convert to

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

y. He was taken first to Dragoslavele Monastery, then to Căldărușani Monastery 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 (; ) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Coșava, Curtea (commune seat) and Homojdia. Geography Curtea is located in the northeast of Timiș County, close to the border of Hunedoara County, from Ti ...

. 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 (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

at Liberty Field in

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