Marta, Liviu - Gindele, Robert: Tezaure dacice din Transcarpatia (Satu Mare, 2014)
Introducere
given to Mihail Olsavszky, Royal Commissioner, during the unrests in Transylvania, with a mission to bring back unity to Romanians’ thoughts. Prove of fulfilling his mission is that on December 13, 1746 Empress Maria Theresa named him Royal Adviser and on February 10, 1747 an imperial resolution stated the resumption of his subsidy of 2,000 florins raised now at 3000 florins35. Bishop Olsavsky is the one who begins to carry out concrete actions for the canonization of the Mukachevo diocese and her removal from the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Eger, receiving support from the Empress too36. Linked to the Olsavszky name are also the canonical visits in his extensive diocese and beyond, among which we mention the ones made at the request of the Empress in 1745-1748. Lucskay mentions that apparently the bishop had been in Transylvania no less than four times37. During this period Olsavszky starts to visit parishes in his diocese, urged both by the Bishop of Eger, his superior, as well as by Empress Maria Theresa. It seems that this activity had started since 1745 when he visited Maramureş38, in 1749 he visited Zemplen and Saaros39, in 1750 again Zemplen and Saaros40 in 1751 Abba Újváros, Szabolcs and Satu Mare41, Maramureş in 175142 again Abba Újváros, Sáros, Scepus43, and Bereg in 175244, Ung also in 175245. Although they have many omissions and mistakes, these canonical visits made by Bishop Mihail Olsavszky at the middle of the 18th century in the 8 counties of the diocese, and in Transylvania, represent an unrivalled source of information regarding population, churches, their inventories, priests, their material situation, cult books, parish arrays etc. They represent a true x-ray of the situation of the Greek Catholic Church in the mid of the 18th century. Another group of documents refers to the Bazilite monasteries of the diocese especially to those of Máriapócs, Mukachevo and Bixad. The period 1731-1750 is the era when Saint Nicholas monastery enters under the full authority of the Diocese of Mukachevo, ending any thoughts of independence manifested throughout time but in the same time winning the status of head of all monasteries in the diocese. 35 Cf. Mihail Lucskay, Historia carpato Ruthenorum, in „Vedecky zbomik múzea ukrajinskej kultúri Muzea Ucrajinskej kultúry vo Svidniku”, 17,1991, p. 40 and 62 36 Extensively in Ovidiu Ghitta, Naşterea unei biserici. Biserica greco-catolică din Sătmar în primul ei secol de existenţă (1667-1761), Cluj-Napoca, 2001, passim 37 M. Lucskay, Op. cit., p. 40-41. 38 Although at the end of the document there is a note of the diocese archiver ’’Annus circiter 1745" we believe that the document is actually a part of the visit that the Bishop takes in Maramureş in the year 1751! 39 State Archive of the Trans Carpathian region, fond 151, opisl, file no. 1199. 40 Ibidem, file 1216, f. 1-46 and Ovidiu Ghitta, La visite pastorale de l'évéque Manuel Olsavszky dans les comitats de Satu Mare et de Maramureş (1751), in „Church and Society in Central and Eastern Europe", Cluj-Napoca, 1998, p. 238-253. 41 State Archive of the Trans Carpathian region, fund 151, opis 1, file 1289. 42 Ibidem, file 1290, f.1-24. 43 Ibidem, file 1290, f. 25-43. 44 Ibidem, file 1327, f. 1-31. 45 Ibidem, file 1328, f. 1-64. 13
