Ioan Dragomir

Ioan Dragomir ( born October 11, 1905 in Arinis, Maramureş County, Romania, † April 25, 1985 in Bucharest ) was Romanian Greek- Catholic bishop and auxiliary bishop in Maramureş.

Life

The farmer's son Ioan Dragomir attended elementary school and high school in his hometown Zalau and Baia Mare. After graduation he entered the seminary in Cluj- Gherla. After his ordination he worked for two years as a pastor in the church ministry. In 1934, he studied theology abroad, but had to return due to health reasons in the home. After recovering, he finished his studies in Rome and earned his doctorate in theology. He was Archpriest of Satu Mare and Baia Mare in canon. Already during the Second World War he was being watched, threatened and persecuted in his pastoral activity.

As the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church was outlawed by the new communist regime in 1948, he hid for some time in a barn his hometown. One night, dressed as a farmer, he took the train to Bucharest, was recognized there by a resident of his hometown and paid him a "hush money ", but he immediately went into a pub and put the money into alcohol. In his intoxication he told the priest. Ioan Dragomir could avoid arrest by fleeing to the Apostolic Nunciature in Bucharest.

In 1949 he was appointed auxiliary bishop in Maramureş and simultaneously appointed titular bishop of Palaeopolis in Pamphylia. The episcopal ordination he received on March 6, 1949 in the chapel of the Nunciature by the Offcial in Romania, Bishop Gerald Patrick O'Hara; Mitkonsekrator was Ioan Ploscaru, the Titular Bishop of Trapezopolis.

With the adoption of the Constitution of the Romanian People's Republic on April 13, 1948 a short time were later released relations with the Vatican and the Nunciature closed. Ioan Dragomir was arrested, convicted and imprisoned. 1964 amnesty, he hid in his hometown. He worked from the ground out, organized secret meetings, consecrated priests and bishops ( Emil Riti ( 1926-2006 ), Justin Stefan Paven ( 1925-1999 ) and Octavian Cristian ( 1920-1989 ) ), which were not recognized by Rome.

After a long illness he died on 25 April 1985 in Bucharest and was buried in the cemetery of his hometown near the parents' tomb under great participation of the faithful, the clergy and the " underground bishops " Ioan Chertes, Ioan Ploscaru and Alexandru Todea.