Romanian Officials Break Through Wall at Premonstratensian Abbey in Oradea

The Premonstratensian Provostry of Váradhegyfok released dramatic footage on Wednesday morning after employees of the Romanian-led municipal administration in Oradea allegedly broke into the canonical seat of the order by cutting through a wall. The abbey said the operation targeted sacred spaces and made it impossible for the order to continue celebrating the liturgy in its own church. The measure, it said, not only violated religious freedom, but also seriously infringed upon Church autonomy and the right to property.

Christian Popescu a premontrei rend falának áttörése után Forrás: Facebook, Váradhegyfoki Prépostság

The provostry emphasized that there has never been a final and enforceable eviction ruling against it. It also noted that the Romanian state has continuously recognized the provostry’s seat since 1948. “This is not an administrative incident,” the abbey said. “It is an attack on an ecclesiastical institution that forms part of the universal Premonstratensian Order, and it concerns the autonomy of the entire Catholic Church and the inviolability of sacred property.”

The romanian baliff on the spot
Photo: Facebook page of Váradhegyfok Premontrei Provostship

The Premonstratensian Canons, who have long played a central role in the life of the Hungarian community in Oradea, also pointed out that the affected building in the city center is a protected historic monument. Architectural and legal reality, they said, cannot be changed through land-registry maneuvers. The attack targeted the order’s sacred spaces. 

Romanian authorities claim that the sacristy does not belong to the church. Reality, blueprints and common sense state otherwise.
(Forrás: Facebook/Istoria Ordinului Premonstratens din Oradea)

As previously reported, the attacked section of the building and the church are organically connected to a school complex that the Romanian state has still not returned to the order. The Oradea mayor’s office wants to renovate the school complex using European Union funds. Through various land-registry maneuvers, the project has also been extended to spaces currently used by the order. That, according to the abbey, is why both the monastery and Father Rudolf Anzelm Fejes himself have become obstacles. Father Fejes has also previously been subjected to physical harassment on several occasions, as he described in an earlier interview with Magyar Nemzet.

The attack hit the sacred spaces of the order. In the picture, Abbot Rudolf Anzelm O.Praem of Fjes is shooting mass 
Photo: Zoltán Havran