Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 34-35/3. (2015)
Ciprian Rigman: Preotul şi moartea. Cauze de deces în răndul preoţilor greco-catolici din Episcopia Gheria în a doua jumătate a secolului al XIX-lea şi prima jumătate a secolului XX (1856-1948)
Marisia XXXIV-XXXV Preotul §i moartea. Cauze de deces Tn rändul preotilor greco-catolici din Episcopia Gherla Tn a doua jumätate a secolului al XlX-lea §i prima jumätate a secolului XX (1856-1948) Ciprian RIGMAN Priests and death: causes of death among Greek Catholic priest in the Diocese of Gherla in the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century (1856-1948) Abstract This study aims to show, based on the sample group of the clergy of the Diocese of Gherla, various causes of death in the group of the research, the main diseases of the period, their impact and frequency or the extent of the phenomenon of old age among this social category. The social class chosen for analysis is, in our opinion, a representative one in the context in which, by the kind of tasks they performed and their status as "men of God", "spiritual shepherds" of the flock of believers and as intercessors of their redemption, priests were permanently present in the community, frequently interacting with others; they entered their homes, on the occasion of deaths and when performing certain sacred functions, being directly exposed to the action of different catching diseases. The primary documentary source of this scientific approach is the protocol of the deceased priests in the Greek Catholic Diocese of Gherla, covering a chronological period of almost a century, between the time of starting the operation of the new Diocese structure (1856) and the forced termination of its activities (1948). The extended chronological period that we investigated allowed us to capture the dynamics of various diseases, directly correlated with both the progress of medical science and the improvement of living standards of the population, due to the development of economic structures in Transylvania, starting at the middle of the nineteenth century. The analysis of the data from the Protocol revealed the presence, the pace and the impact of major epidemics or even of serious pandemics (cholera or Spanish flu). When the death of a representative of the higher clergy (bishops, canon capitulars) or median (vicars, deans, vice-deans) was mentioned in the register, we chose to mention in the footnotes the name of the deceased, the cause of death and the age, in order to provide a useful tool for research centered on the life and work of Romanian elites. To facilitate research, but also to capture more accurately the changes in terms of the incidence of various diseases (amplification or restriction of their impact), we chose to investigate the documentary information in temporal sequences of about two decades. Keywords: clergy, Diocese of Gherla, causes of death, disease, old age Cu caracter universal, dar §i individual, moartea, probabil cea mai redutabilä Constanta a existentei umane, a fost mereu prezentä in viata indivizilor, in familia lor, impunánd cea mai veridica forma de egalitarism, cäci in fata ei sunt anulate orice 131
