Valeriu Traian Frențiu

Blessed Valeriu Traian Frențiu (25 April 1875 – 11 July 1952) was the Bishop of the Eparchy of Oradea Mare of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church from 1922 to 1952. His beatification occurred on 2 June 2019.[1][2][3]

Blessed
Valeriu Traian Frențiu
Bishop of Oradea Mare
ChurchRomanian Greek Catholic Church
DioceseOradea Mare
SeeOradea Mare
Appointed25 February 1922
Term ended11 July 1952
PredecessorDemetriu Radu
SuccessorVasile Hossu
Orders
Ordination28 September 1898
Consecration14 January 1913
by Victor Mihaly de Apşa
Personal details
Born25 April 1875
Reșița, Romania
Died11 July 1952(1952-07-11) (aged 77)
Sighet Prison, Sighetu Marmației, Maramureș, Romania
Previous post
Alma materEötvös Loránd University
Sainthood
Feast day2 June
Venerated in
  • Romanian Greek Catholic Church
  • Roman Catholic Church
Beatified2 June 2019
Liberty Field, Blaj, Romania
by Pope Francis
AttributesEpiscopal attire

Life and career

His father was a priest named Joachim and his mother named Rozalia.

He studied theology in Budapest (1894–98). In 1902 he received his Ph.D. in Theology.

The Greek-Catholic clergy

He was ordained a priest on 28 September 1898. He worked at the Diocese of Lugoj as rector, dean of Drastic, chancellor and vicar apostolical.

Greek Catholic Bishop

On 4 November 1912, at age 37, was appointed bishop of Lugoj. On 25 February 1922, Bishop Frentiu was transferred to Oradea and mounted on 3 May that year.

On 5 September 1937 the church dedicated Madaras, and on 8 September 1937 consecrated the church in Istria and Greek-Catholic Bocsa.

After the death of Bishop Alexander Niculescu in 1941, Bishop Frentiu was moved to the position of Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Alba Iulia and Fagaras, ministering here throughout the war. In 1947 he returned to Oradea.

Under communist persecution

In Oradea he was arrested on 28 October 1948 and went into camp at Dragoslavele, and then the refusal to pass the Romanian Orthodox Church in February 1949, was taken to the monastery Căldăruşani.

At Căldăruşani, Valeriu Traian Frenţiu consecrated Bishop Bishop, underground, on John Chertes the night of Christmas of 1949.

End of life

In 1950 arrived in Sighet Prison, where, after two years, unable to bear the hardness of extermination regime, died on 11 July 1952. Other bishops also dead in Sighet, was buried in one night, without a coffin in a mass grave in the Cemetery of the Poor. Grave was leveled to no longer know burial place and to avoid pilgrimages to the graves of the martyrs killed in Sighet.

There has been tried and convicted. In 2011, the City Council decision Resita Dr. Valeriu Traian Frenţiu Martyr Bishop was elected Honorary Citizen of Resita Post Mortem, a town that Frenţiu was born.

Beatification

On 19 March 2019, Pope Francis approved the beatification of Frenţiu and six other Greek-Catholic bishops killed by the communist regime in Romania in the mid-20th century.[4] Pope Francis personally presided over the beatification of Frențiu and the other six bishops at Liberty Field in Blaj, Romania on 2 June 2019.[1][2]

  • He renovated the Greek Catholic Church in Beiuș at his own expense
  • Beiuș
  • Frențiu sitting among priests including Fr. Alexander Ratiu.

References
  1. "A joyous celebration in Romania as Pope Francis beatifies seven bishop-martyrs". America Magazine. 2 June 2019.
  2. "Pope Warns Of Divisive Ideologies As He Beatifies Romanian Bishops". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty.
  3. "Pope to beatify martyrs, visit Marian shrine on trip to Romania". National Catholic Reporter. 25 March 2019.
  4. Brockhaus, Hannah. "Seven 20th-century Romanian bishops declared martyrs". Catholic News Agency.

Bibliography
  • Ioan M. Bota, Istoria Bisericii universale și a Bisericii românești de la origini până în zilele noastre, Casa de Editură „Viața Creștină”, Cluj-Napoca, 1994. ISBN 973-96661-5-9
  • Ioan Ploscaru, Lanțuri și Teroare, Editura Signata, Timișoara, 1993, ISBN 973-551-028-6
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