Schlauch, Lörinc
Banat Priest, Educator and Cultural Work Organizer
(Mercydorf Priest)
Lörinc Schlauch was born March 27, 1824, Uj-Arad, diocese of Csanad, Hungary. Received the sacrament of confirmation, May 8, 1835, and died on 10 Jul 1902 in Oradea.
Education. Received the insignias of the clerical character and the minor orders, December 15, 1846; subdiaconate, December 21, 1846; diaconate, January 2, 1847. University of Budapest, Hungary (doctorate in theology, January 30, 1867).
Priesthood. Ordained, April 3, 1847. In the diocese of Csanad, cooperator in several parishes for five years; professor of theology in its seminary; pastor in Merczyfalva, and Gyarnatha, for thirteen years; canon of the cathedral chapter, 1872.
Episcopate. Elected bishop of Szatmár (now Satu Mare, Romania), July 25, 1873. Consecrated, September 21, 1873, Esztergom, by János Simor, archbishop of Esztergom. Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, July 30, 1886. Transferred to the see of Nagyvárad of the Latins (now Orea Mare or Gran Varadino, Romania), May 26, 1887.
Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of June 12, 1893; received red hat and title of S. Giorlamo degli Schiavoni, May 21, 1894. Decorated with the grand cross of the Austrian Order of Sankt Stefan, 1897.
Death. July 10, 1902, Nagyvárad. Exposed and buried in the cathedral of Nagyvárad.
Source: Mercydorf Heimatbuch 1987 by Klugesherz, Lammert, Petri, & Zirenner
Schlauch Lőrincz, bishop of Biboros, vbtt, M. Tud. Board member of the Academy, born in Újarad, March 1824. 27. After graduating from high school, he studied theological sciences at the University of Pest. Dedicated to a priest in 1847, he became a chaplain in Nagyszentmiklós, where he continued his education with great diligence, especially in church history and ecclesiastical law, which he later became a teacher of in the episcopal licence at Timisoara (1851). However, due to his shaky health, he had to leave his teaching position 220and in 1859 he became a parish priest and district bishop in Mercydorf and then in Gyarmatán. It was in time that he began to delve deeper into the history of culture, philosophy, and art history. In 1867 he obtained a doctorate in ecclesiastical law. His public appearance first excelled in the Catholic Autonomous Movements of 1868 and 1870, when he attracted attention with his mighty speech at the General Assembly and his “Response” to a pamphlet published at the time. In 1872 he was appointed canon, and in 1873 bishop of Satu Mare. During his fourteen years in the bishopric of Satu Mare, he donated more than half a million francs to charitable, church and educational purposes. It acquired 24,000 francs for the Turkish Library, of which the Laurentiana Library became. He erected several churches, 16 folk high schools and organized the teacher training institute with great financial sacrifices. This time he took an active part in all the notable ecclesiastical, cultural and political movements of the country and in particular, with his speeches and proposals in the negotiation of ecclesiastical laws, the civil marriage bill, took a leading role in these struggles. In 1880 he became a Vbtt, in 1884 he became the 1st class knight of the Iron Crown order, in 1885 he became an honorary doctor of theology at the University of Budapest, in 1886 he was a count and high priest of the papal throne and in 1887 a bishop of Oradea. In 1891, he founded a kindergarten training institute in Oradea, founded a nuns’ convent in Debreczen for 30,000 forints, established a 200,000-fort foundation to cover the needs of the diocese of Oradea, and so on. May 1897, he sat on the 2nd of the fiftieth anniversary of his sacrificial priesthood, when the king awarded him with the great cross of the Order of St. Stephen, and in his own right he had a Romanesque church built in the Bishop of Bihor to commemorate his golden mass. In addition, he did an extraordinary amount of cultural work. It has timeless merits in the founding of all our more notable institutions for public education and in the development of our existing cultural institutions. He died on 10 Jul 1902 in Oradea.
As a church writer and orator, he is one of the most outstanding. In his opening speeches at the general meetings of the St. Ladislaus Society (of which he was chairman), he always discussed an important, modern issue that occupied the minds. His speeches were published by Vincze Bunyitai in four volumes. Volume I. Church Sermons (1890), II. Vol. Church Political Speeches (1890), III. and IV. Vol. Church Political Speeches and Dissertations (1898). A second edition was published in 1899 entitled “Speeches and Papers of the Bishop-Bishop Schlauch Lőrincz”. [Source: mek.oszk.hu/]
Last updated: 07/20/2025