Canonic la Oradea. Recrutarea şi promovarea canonicilor în dieceza de Oradea Mare în a doua jumătate a secolului al XIX-lea

This study proposes a new perspective on known data and institutions, an approach that combines positivist historical research with sociological analysis based on the prosopographic and comparative methods. Thanks to this approach, to the analysis made, we can say that the process of selection and promotion of the higher clergy in the Diocese of Oradea had for a main criterion the intellectual and professional training of candidates. Selection of future canons was first made among young people with higher education, graduated from Rome, Vienna and Pest, who, at the same time, had taken the clothes of celibacy, preferences heading then towards young people who had completed their studies in Trnava, Ungvari and Oradea. Thus of the 20 canon holders who were part of the Chapter of Oradea, in the half of a century under our research, 7 had achieved theological studies in Vienna, 4 in Pest, 2 in Rome, 2 in Trnava and 5 in Oradea. Five of them also owned the doctoral degree: 2 of Rome and 3 of Vienna. The rigor for the intellectual and professional formation of chapter members may be an explanation for the fact that in the second half of the XIX-th century the institution of the Chapter of Oradea was a true nursery of bishops (of the 20 canons, 5 became bishops). Of course, it should be noted that the second criterion commonly used in the recruitment and promotion of the clergy was that of the civil status, most likely accounting for the priests who in addition to studies opted for celibacy. However, we have to mention that 5 of the 20 canons that were part of the Chapter of Oradea between 1853-1900 (meaning 25%) were recruited from among widowed priests, some also having offspring.