Coriolan Suciu (19 December 1895–27 January 1967) was an

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

-born

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n teacher and historian, and a priest in the

Romanian Greek-Catholic Church The Romanian Greek Catholic Church or Romanian Church United with Rome is a ''sui iuris'' Eastern Catholic Church, in full union with the Catholic Church. It has the rank of a Major Archbishop, Major Archiepiscopal Church and it uses the Byzanti ...

Biography

Born in Ciugudu de Jos,

Alba County Alba County () is a county (județ) of Romania located in the historic region of Transylvania. Its capital is Alba Iulia, a city with a population of 63,536. Name "Alba", meaning "white" in Latin and Romanian, is derived from the name of the ...

, in the

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

region, he attended gymnasium from 1906 to 1914 and studied theology from 1914 to 1917 in nearby

Blaj Blaj (; archaically spelled as ''Blaș''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Blußendref'') is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 17,816 inhabitants as of 2021. The city administers eight villages: Deleni-Obârșie ('' ...

. He then studied history and Latin at

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

and

Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

from 1917 to 1919, attended specialty courses in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

from 1921 to 1922 and, following the

union of Transylvania with Romania The union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia. The Great Union Day (also called ''Unification Day''), celebrated on 1 December, is a Public holidays in Romani ...

and the creation of Superior Dacia University, obtained a doctorate there in 1922. In Blaj, he taught at Saint Basil High School from 1919, was director of the apprentices' school from 1929 to 1937, becoming head of the normal school in 1937 and holding a similar position at Saint Basil from 1941 to 1945. Between 1945 and 1956, he worked as a professor at Inocențiu Micu Klein High School in Cluj, where for a time he served as director. This period saw the onset of a

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

and the outlawing of his church. Ordained a priest in 1926, he was made honorary archpriest in 1938. After 1956, he was an outside collaborator at the Cluj Institute of History and Archaeology. He published various works about the history of Transylvania. Suciu died in Cluj."Coriolan Suciu"
, entry in Mircea Păcurariu, ''Dicționarul Teologilor Români'', Editura Univers Enciclopedic, Bucharest, 1996

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suciu, Coriolan 1895 births 1967 deaths Romanian Greek-Catholic priests 20th-century Romanian historians Romanian schoolteachers Heads of schools in Romania People from Alba County Romanian Austro-Hungarians Franz Joseph University alumni