Ioan Bob, (1739 – 2 October 1830) was Bishop of Făgăraş and

Primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

of 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 Archiepiscopal Church and it uses the Byzantine liturgical r ...

from 1783 to his death in 1830.

Life

Ioan Bob was born from a

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

Romanian family in October or November 1739 in Orman, near

Iclod Iclod (; ) is a commune in Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of five villages: Fundătura (''Szamosjenő''), Iclod, Iclozel (''Kisiklód''), Livada (''Dengeleg''), and Orman (''Ormány''). Demographics According to the census ...

() in

Kolozs County Kolozs County was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary, of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom and of the Principality of Transylvania. Its territory is now in north-western Romania (north-western Transylvania). The capital ...

, now

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 ...

. He attended the secondary schools by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

but fallen ill he could not enter in

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

. In 1764, he entered as

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession with no prior experience. Religion Buddhism ...

in the Basilian monastery of

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 ('' ...

. After some months, because he could not bear the strict discipline, he withdraw from the monastic life working simply as lay administrator of the monastery. In 1773, he was sent by his friend Bishop

Grigore Maior Grigore Gavrila Maior, O.S.B.M., (1715 – 7 February 1785) was Bishop of Făgăraş and Primate of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church from 1773 to his resignation in 1782. Life Gavrilă Maior was born in 1715, in Sărăuad, Szatmár Count ...

to study in

Trnava Trnava (, , ; , also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of the Trnava Region and the Trnava District. It is the seat o ...

where he graduated in theology. Returned to Romania, after a period of illness, he moved to Blaj where, on 25 December 1777, he was ordained a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

and, on 8 April 1778, a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

. He worked for some months in the

diocesan chancery A diocesan chancery is the branch of administration that handles all written documents used in the official government of a Catholic, Anglican, or Orthodox diocese. It is in the diocesan chancery that, under the direction of the bishop or his r ...

. In 1778, he was appointed Dean in Daia Română and in 1779 to

Târgu Mureş Târgu (Romanian language, Romanian for "the market") starts off the names of several places in Romania: *Târgu Bujor *Târgu Cărbunești *Târgu Frumos *Berbești, Târgu Gânguleşti *Târgu Jiu *Târgu Lăpuș *Logrești, Târgu Logreşti *Tâ ...

. In 1782, the Primate of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, the Bishop of Făgăraş Grigore Maior, resigned. According to the praxis, the electoral synod was convened in August 1782 and Bob resulted the third voted. Nevertheless, he was designated by the

Emperor Joseph II Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor F ...

on 21 October 1783, probably because he was the only non-monk voted, and confirmed by

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI (; born Count Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio called Giovanni Angelo or Giannangelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to hi ...

on 15 December 1783. Accordingly, he was consecrated

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, on 6 June 1784, by

and enthroned on 2 July 1784. Bob was a firm supporter of the rights of the Romanian population under the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. He actually, along with the Orthodox bishop Gherasim Adamovici, signed and brought the

Supplex Libellus Valachorum ''Supplex Libellus Valachorum Transsilvaniae'' (Latin for ''Petition of the Romanians of Transylvania'') is the name of two petitions sent by the leaders of the ethnic Romanians of Transylvania to the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, demanding equ ...

before the Imperial Court of Vienna on March 30, 1792. This courageous act was rejected anyway. Bob introduced an authoritarian model of leadership in his Church which led also to some clashes. He died on 2 October 1830. He wrote a Dictionary of

Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spelling: Roumanian; , or , ) is the official and main language of Romania and Moldova. Romanian is part of the Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, a linguistic group that evolved fr ...

published in

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 ( ...

(1822–1823), with about 11,000 Romanian words, which also gives the equivalent

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and Hungarian. He promoted the printing of religious books, handbooks, and theological books. He also supported the edition of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

in Romanian known as ''Bible of Blaj'' (translated by

Samuil Micu Samuil Micu-Klein (September 1745 – 13 May 1806) was a Romanian Greek-Catholic theologian, historian, philologist and philosopher, a member of the Enlightenment-era movement of Transylvanian School (Şcoala Ardeleană). He is the author of E ...

and published in 1795), the second translation of the

Holy Scriptures Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and l ...

in Romanian.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bob, Ioan 1739 births 1830 deaths 19th-century Romanian clergy Primates of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church Romanian nobility 18th-century Romanian people in Transylvania People from Cluj County 19th-century Eastern Catholic bishops 18th-century Eastern Catholic bishops 19th-century Romanian people in Transylvania