Timotei Cipariu

Timotei Cipariu (b. February 21, 1805, Pănade, plasa Hususău, Târnava-Mică county - d. September 3, 1887, Blaj) was a Transylvanian Romanian scholar, Greek-Catholic cleric (canonical and chapter prefect), Pașoptist revolutionary, politician in Transylvania, founding member of the Romanian Academy, first vice-president, then president of the Transylvanian Association for Romanian Literature and the Culture of the Romanian People, linguist, historian, theologian, pedagogue, orientalist, and polyglot (he knew about 15 languages). Life He completed his school studies in Blaj, the gymnasium between (1816 - 1820), followed by the philosophical (1820 - 1822) and the theological (1822 - 1825). Between 1825 and 1827 he was a teacher at the Gymnasium in Blaj. In 1828 he became a professor of philosophy, and between 1834 and 1842 a professor of Dogmatics, then of Biblical Studies at the Seminary. Between 1854 and 1875 he was director of the Gymnasium and inspector of schools in the city, and between 1833 and 1866 he was director of the Diocesan Printing Office. In 1827 he became a priest, from 1842 he was a canon, and later the chapter prefect of the Archdiocese of Alba Iulia and Făgăraș, based in Blaj where he lived for most of his life. Representative personality of Romanian culture, called "the father of Romanian philology", he was conversant in many languages (Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Turkish, Persian, Spanish, Italian, German, English, Hungarian). Timotei Cipariu was the owner of one of the richest private libraries in Transylvania , precious also by its rarities. These books were especially procured for him by his friend from Bucharest, the bookseller Iosif Romanov, and by his company's representatives in Constantinople and Cairo. In October 1948, the communist regime imposed, according to the order from Moscow, the outlawing of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church and the assimilation of its believers into the Orthodox Church, confiscating the Cipariu Library (bequeathed to the Bishopric of Blaj ) and illegally placing it in the Library's inventory Cluj Branch of the Romanian Academy.