In memory of Cardinal Iuliu Hossu (1885-1970)
In anticipation of Easter Sunday, we pay homage to the memory of one of the most revered figures of Romanian Christianity, Cardinal Iuliu Hossu, a beacon of courage, self-sacrifice and unwavering faith, portrayed with skill and sympathy by director Nicolae Mărgineanu in his 2019 feature film, "The Cardinal". In the 1950s, the leaders of the Greek Catholic Church in Transylvania were arrested and imprisoned in the Sighet penitentiary, communist Romania’s most infamous jail. Then Bishop Iuliu Hossu and his fellow priests were subjected to torture and humiliation by the Secret Police in the vain attempt to make them abjure their faith.
Facebook premiere on Saturday, May 1 at 6 p.m. EST. The recording will remain available on our page, for audiences in North America, for 12 hours. (Please follow the link to watch.)
THE CARDINAL
Director: Nicolae Mărgineanu
Screenplay: Bogdan Adrian Toma
With: Cristian Iacob, Maria Ploae, Radu Botar, Bogdan Nechifor
Produced by Ager Film with support from the Romanian National Film Center
A hero of the Great Union of 1918, Iuliu Hossu (30 January 1885 – 28 May 1970) was a Romanian Greek Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Cluj-Gherla. Pope Paul VI elevated Hossu to the rank of Cardinal in pectore, that is, secretly, in 1969 but did not publish his appointment until after Hossu's death. The communist authorities arrested Bishop Hossu on October 28, 1948. From 1950 to 1955 he was a political prisoner at the Sighet Prison. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest and died in 1970. Pope Francis confirmed Hossu and six other prelates' beatification in 2019 and the ceremony, presided over by the Pope himself, was celebrated in Blaj, Romania on June 2, 2019.