Aspects of Faith and Life in the Funeral Speeches of Archbishop Ioan Lupaş from Săliştea Sibiului The priest, professor and historian Ioan Lupaş actively accompanied the Romanian history in the first six decades of the twentieth century, starting with the preparation of the Great Union in December 1918, then going through the tumultuous political and cultural life of Romania between the two World Wars, suffering, with his generation, the effects of the Vienna Diktat and also spending time in the Communist prison of Sighet in the 50s, until he finally got to dedicate his last days to the passion that accompanied him throughout his life, the history of his nation. Between 1909 and 1919, Ioan Lupaş was the parish priest and archpriest of the Sălişte tract from Sibiu’s Mărginimea. Towards the end of that period (1918) he collected in a volume the funeral speeches given in his capacity. By going through them, we have the possibility to reconstruct some traits of his pastoral work in Sălişte and the surroundings, but we can at the same time reconstruct some of the aspects of the social, national and even economic life of the Romanians in this part of the country. The collection is an interesting source for the study of that period. COSMIN COSMUŢA |
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