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1

“We do not want Foreign Strongholds within Our National State” – the Romanian Educational Policy and the Historically Established Churches between the Two World Wars

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Sarnyai C. M.

West Bohemian Historical Review

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2014

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vol. 4

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issue 2

179-194

EN

Within its territory, which had been extended by the peace treaties following WW1, Romania intended to create a nation-state that is also religiously uniform. Therefore, minorities in Transylvania meant a twofold problem, as they were both Hungarians and Roman Catholics. Just as Romanians had the denominational schools as fountainheads of national/ethnic awakening during Hungarian authority, now these schools served the safekeeping of the Hungarian national sentiment. This is why governments strived to suppress them as much as possible, even if they were obliged by international treaties to protect them. With regard to governmental actions and public attitude, four periods can be distinguished. In our paper, we aim at monitoring and evaluating the process in an analytic manner.

2

The Debate of the Romanian Concordat from the Perspective of Hungarian Catholics in the Twenties of the 20th Century

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Sarnyai C. M.

Central European Papers

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2013

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vol. 1

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issue 1

17-26

EN

Due to the territorial redistributions following WW1, Transylvania became a part of Romania. Most of its population were Hungarian-speaking Catholics. For the Romanian state, the conclusive resolution of their issues was the agreement with the Holy See in Rome. On the one hand, the Catholics obliged to the standpoint of Rome, on the other hand, due to the international situation, Romania could not afford to avoid an official agreement with the Pope in the case of Hungarian Catholics, in order to prevent accusations of anti-religiousness. The official diplomatic communication between Bucharest and the Vatican began in 1919 and concordat negotiations began in 1920. It was signed on 10 May 1927 and was only ratified by the Romanian parliament on 13 June 1929. During this long process, the Romanian legislation had several important events that affected the situation of the churches and thus that of the minority society. These are the first to be discussed in the paper. Afterwards, we briefly address the principles and practice of the contemporary concordat policy of the Holy See. Each involved party (Roman Catholic Hungarian minority, Orthodox Romanians, the Romanian government and Eastern Catholic Romanians) reacted to leaked negotiation details differently. This is presented in the next section. In the last part of the paper, we examine the main points, aftermath and evaluation of the final and accepted concordat, from the viewpoint of the Catholic Hungarians.

3

Changes in the Economic Situation of the Transylvanian Catholic Community After the Trianon Treaty, with Special Regard to the Estates Managed by the “Erdélyi Katolikus Státus” (Transylvanian Catholic Státus)

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Sarnyai C. M.

Central European Papers

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2014

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vol. 2

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issue 1

39-52

EN

Romania’s estate politics after the Trianon treaty caused about 24,207,138 lei deficit in the school and religious funds managed by the Transylvanian Catholic Status. It is understandable that such a dramatic loss of income had serious consequences. Education was the most affected field, just as intended by the creators of the edict. The number of denominational schools decreased due to source redistributions and other obstructive decisions, and even the maintenance of the remainder was possible only through the selflessness of the followers. But it must be noted, as our analysis shows, that an exact explanation for such a situation, according to present expectations, cannot be given today. The difference between clerical and liberal views is rooted in the essential difference between the feudal and modern civil concepts of property. The primary goal of those who worked much on the elimination and abolishment of the Status was to acquire the money of these funds. For this purpose, they attempted to confuse the legal interpretation of the time when the Status and the funds were created with the interpretation of their own time. Such a confusion attempt is actually “an abuse of scholarship”, its “violation” and an opportunity for false explanations.

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2 Central European Papers

1 West Bohemian Historical Review

3 Sarnyai C. M.

2 2014

1 2013

“We do not want Foreign Strongholds within Our National State” – the Romanian Educational Policy and the Historically Established Churches between the Two World Wars

The Debate of the Romanian Concordat from the Perspective of Hungarian Catholics in the Twenties of the 20th Century

Changes in the Economic Situation of the Transylvanian Catholic Community After the Trianon Treaty, with Special Regard to the Estates Managed by the “Erdélyi Katolikus Státus” (Transylvanian Catholic Státus)