20 Facts About Iuliu Hossu

Iuliu Hossu was a Romanian Greek-Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Cluj-Gherla.

Iuliu Hossu spent the rest of his life under house arrest and died in 1970.

Iuliu Hossu is venerated in the Catholic Church as a martyr and blessed, having been beatified by Pope Francis.

Iuliu Hossu was born in 1885 in Milas in the then-Austro-Hungarian empire to Ioan Hossu and Victoria Mariutiu.

Iuliu Hossu's brothers were Vasile and Traian and Ioan.

Iuliu Hossu studied at the ecclesial school in Cluj and later in Budapest.

Iuliu Hossu studied at the Vienna college in Austria and later at the Pontifical Urbanian Athenaeum in Rome where he went on to obtain doctorates in philosophical studies in 1906 and in theological studies in 1908.

Iuliu Hossu completed further studies from 1910 to 1911 and served as an archivist and a librarian.

Iuliu Hossu later served as a chaplain to the Romanian soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian armed forces during World War I between 1914 and 1917.

In November 1918 Iuliu Hossu was nominated representative by right in the National Assembly of all Romanians in Hungary, which declared the Union of Transylvania with Romania on 1 December 1918.

Iuliu Hossu was named as the Bishop of Cluj-Gherla when the see was transferred on 5 June 1930 and Pope Pius XI later appointed him as the Apostolic Administrator of Maramures from 1930 until 1931 when a successor for that diocese was named.

Iuliu Hossu was named an Assistant at the Pontifical Throne on 16 September 1936 which made him a monsignor.

Iuliu Hossu made the Apostolic Administrator of Oradea Mare from 1941 until 1947 when Pope Pius XII appointed him as such.

Iuliu Hossu was confined at Jilava Prison and Dragoslavele and later at Sighet and Gherla prisons from 1948 to 1964.

Iuliu Hossu was relocated to a convent near Bucharest from that point until 1970, and was transferred to a hospital there in May 1970.

Iuliu Hossu opposed the forced passage of Greek-Catholic believers to the Romanian Orthodox Church.

On 28 October 1948, Iuliu Hossu was arrested in his episcopal residence in Cluj and taken to the patriarchal villa of Dragoslavele, where he was held under guard in hunger and cold together with the other Greek-Catholic bishops arrested.

Iuliu Hossu arrived again in Caldarusani, where he stayed with compulsory residence until the end of his life.

Iuliu Hossu died on 28 May 1970 at 9:00am at Colentina Hospital in Bucharest with Bishop Alexandru Todea at his side.

Iuliu Hossu was buried in Bucharest and his last words were recorded as being: "My struggle ends; yours continues".