Egyháztörténeti Szemle 16. (2015)
2015 / 3. szám - SUMMARIES IN ENGLISH - Katkó Márton Áron: Milestone in the Hungarian and Romanian Greek Catholic Historiography
Summaries in English 89 Milestone in the Hungarian and Romanian Greek Catholic Historiography Katkó, Márton Aron Present article’s issue is Cecilia Cäija’s monograph published in 2012, titled Church and Politics. The Creation of the Hajdúdorogh Diocese (1912). This article’s goal is not only the presentation of Cäija’s work, but also to synchronize with the results of the Hungarian researches. The mentioned book is unique at the map of the Hungarian and Romanian historiography. After many short articles and chapters this is the first experience of a complex review of one of the last great nationality confrontations in the old Hungary. Cärja’s work presents not only ecclesiastical questions of the creation of diocese, but it is also useful for the exploration of the differences and contradictions between the Hungarian and Romanian national self-reflection (lingual nation vs. confessional nation) or the different na- tionbuildings. The author starts her argumentation with the Hajdúdorog movement in the 1860’s and presents its development: claims and struggles for own bishopric institution with Hungarian liturgical language. By processing the documents of the Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Cárja sketches the goals of this movement and the difficulties of its achivement from the point of view of the higher ecclesiastical authorities’ attitudes, primarily the Vatican refusing the national campaign in the church. The author explores many new sources, but she doesn’t use Hungarian documents thus her interpretation of the most significant secular authority, the Hungarian government’s goals is incomplete. Indirectly the government’s opinion determined the limits of movement’s wishes. Before the 1910’s, because of national reasons the government refused the erection of a new diocese, but supported the introduction of the Hungarian liturgical language because of the same motives. Cárja describes these two questions in separate chapters correctly, but without the governmental sources she cannot reconstruct all aspects of their connection, especially in the period between 1902-1910, when the government step by step gravitated from the introduction of the new liturgical language towards the erection of the diocese. The most interesting part of the book is the interpretation of Romanian Greek catholic society’s reaction to the erection of the Hajdúdorog diocese, in 1912. During the Romanian protestation evolved a division of labour among all affected members. Priests and their parishes edited memorandums, the high clergy protested at Rome and tried to slow down the foundation of the diocese, the secular Romanians reached to get support from the Romanian government and heir to the Habsburg throne.
