The prisons of Father Viorel Todea in Arieșenii Albei
He was born on 1 June 1919 in a simple family from Arieșeni, Alba County. After primary school, he attended the “Samuil Vulcan” high school in Beiuș and then, for the last two years, the “Gheorghe Barițiu” high school in Cluj.
In 1940 he enrolled at the Theological Academy in Cluj, but the consequences of the Vienna Diktat forced him to flee to Sibiu, where he continued his theological studies.
After 1946 he was ordained a priest and served in his hometown. During high school he joined the Brotherhood of the Cross, but for sympathising with a Jewish classmate he was expelled from this political organisation and even had to finish high school in Cluj. During the Legionary Government, he had to rejoin the Brotherhood of the Cross in Sibiu, otherwise he would lose the scholarship that helped him to study theology.
Later, during the war, in December 1944, he hosted on several occasions some Legionaries who had been parachuted in by the German Air Force, but who had presented themselves under false identities as officers of the Romanian Army on special missions. For this reason, on 1 September 1949, he was arrested by the Câmpeni Security, where he was detained for a month, transferred to the Turda Security Service for almost three months, imprisoned in the Turda prison and hospitalised in August 1950 because of lung problems.
In September 1950, Father Todea was sentenced by the military tribunal in Cluj to 3 years and 6 months in prison for the crime of “high treason”. He was kept in the infirmary of the TBC and in January 1951 he was transferred to the prison hospitals of Văcărești and then to Târgu Ocna. In the latter prison, Father Todea had the opportunity to be in the midst of young people who maintained a veritable mystical academy. He met Valeriu Gafencu, Ioan Ianolide, Ioja Sinesie, whom he recalled in a statement recorded during the Security Service investigation:
“While I was ill, in room no. 5 were the most seriously ill, who were helped by the legionnaires with food such as butter, milk, jam and sugar. Those who were healthier and could eat heavier food brought us such food; all these legionaries also helped us by washing our underwear. They gave up these foods to help us recover, which was a legionary help or a Christian gesture”.
At the same time, real theological discussions took place in this prison, and many inmates led a truly Christian life. Viorel Todea confessed during the Securitate investigation that when he first met Valeriu Gafencu, he asked him to confess, as he did shortly before his death. After serving his sentence, Father Todea was kept in administrative detention for another year and six months, and was only released on 19 July 1954. Afterwards, he tried to keep in touch with his former colleagues through various visits, as the Securitate considered that Viorel Todea was continuing the “legionary activity” in Tg. Ocna. On 29 May 1959, Father Todea was arrested again and sent to the Security Service investigation department in Oradea. After a year of investigation, he was included in a group of three accused, former colleagues from Tg. Ocna.
On 6 July 1960, Father Todea was sentenced by the Military Tribunal of Timișoara, in verdict no. 233, to 17 years of hard labour for the crime of “conspiracy against the social order”. After his conviction, Father Todea was hospitalised in Gherla to treat his old lung disease. A few months later he was sent to Gherla prison. He was released from Gherla on 3 August 1964. He returned to the priesthood and served in Vidra and, after a year, in his native town.
(Adrian Nicolae Petcu – Lumina Newspaper)