Confessional Pluralism in Habsburg Transylvania

AbstractThe metamorphoses of pluriconfessional space in 19th and 20th centuries of Transylvania's lead to the composition, definition, evolution and interrelationship of ethnic and religious confessions. These can be studied, analyzed and researched both historical and religious point of view as well as political, geographical, socio-cultural and psychological point of view.Topics such as the confessional pluralism and identity discourse, great personalities of the main religions in Transylvania, the development of religious education and inter-confessional cooperation of the intellectual elite are some of the issues related to religious identity in the studied period. These can be related to the interdependence of the ethnic identity in Transylvania around the 1848's Revolution and to the national status of minorities in Habsburg Transylvania.The role of large collections and libraries in Habsburg Transylvania is an aspect insufficiently analyzed and the study of religious concepts which didn’t belong to that religion accepted into the Habsburg Empire is a new topic which can be analyzed from psychological, social and cultural point of view.Hungarian Kingdom was a Christian country governed by a Catholic sovereign. For this reason, De Propaganda Fide Congregation acted in Transylvania and Hungary, areas which had been under Turkish influence. The first mission of the Congregation began in October 1629, when the Italian Franciscan Vincenzo Pinieri da Montefiascone arrived in the County of Zemplén.In 1632, the Congregation sent other Italian Franciscans in Upper Hungary. Their activity in these areas was very intense, thus the Franciscans have played an important role in their mission to convert the people to Catholicism.After 1760, Maria Theresa forbade the Jesuits to hold intellectual monopoly and censorship of books, these being achieved by the state through an aulic committee named Studien-und Bücher-Zensur-Hofcommission. After 1773, when the Jesuit order was dissolved, the state could control also universities