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The first efforts to set up a Romanian
parish in the district Iosefin (thus called after the
emperor Iosif II`s name - 1780 - 1790) of Timișoara were
made by the true believer Iacob Marian and lasted for
almost ten years.
On the January 25th 1902, Iacob Marian donated his entire
fortune to the Arad Diocese Consistory so that from the
income a confessional school could be supported and from
the funds donated the "Jacob Marian and his wife" fund
should be constituted, in order to build a parish church
in this district. Althought the couple did not see their
wish come true, they may be regarded as the first founders
of this parish, due to their donation and initiative.
After the World War I this family`s efforts were successfuly
continued by the great leader of Romanian affirmation
in this region, Maecenas Emanuil Ungurianu, one of the
enthusiastic supporters of the setting up of the Bishorpric
of Timișoara.
On April 17th 1921, the lawyer Ungurianu held the parish
meeting, whose president he was proclaimed. After the
members of the parish council and comitee were elected,
they appointed the guardians and the religion teacher
Ștefan Opreanu as the managing priest.
On July 8th 1921, the parish council sent a letter to
the Rector`s office in Timișoara to inform of the intention
of setting up the parish and the inauguration of the
classrooms of the district`s primary school. Furthermore,
it was requested that this initiative should be brought
to the atention of the Diecesan Centre in Arad.
The Bishopric of Arad approved the setting up of the
new parish (Resolution nr. 1941/1922) and appealed to
the goverment for funds to complete the wages of the
vicar.
Lawyer E. Ungurianu asked for the 1319.8 sqm lot in Asănești
Square (Alexandru Mocioni nowadays) from the Townhall
of Timișoara, which donated it to the parish (in the
meeting on July 29th 1925) so that a church, a parish
house and other church buildings should be built. At
the same time, Ungurianu managed to obtain from the goverment
the parish, church and cantoral plot of land, which made
it possible for a vicar to be appointed and paid from
the state budget.
Temporarily, Gavril Selegeanu, the vicar of the neighbouring
Elisabeth parish, was appointed administrator of the
newly founded parish. He drew up the list of the 152
members of the parish general meeting in 1926, with a
view to electing the vicar.
On July 22nd 1927, the parish meeting unanimously elected
Ioan Imbroane, religion teacher at Carmen Sylva High
School Timișoara, as the vicar of the parish. The new
vicar was ordained on the second day of Christmas in
1927 and soon after that he started collecting the necessary
funds to build the church and the parish house. Therefore,
he organized public collections, concerts, he received
numerous donations. A considerable sum of money was left
in his will by Emanuil Ungurianu (+ Octomber 8th 1929).
Before the church was build, the religious service for
the flock of the new parish was held in the chapel of
School Number 8 in Dragulina Square, which had been hallowed
on April 8th 1929. Two years later, the parish council
led by vicar Imbroane entrusted Victor Vlad, engineer,
professor at Politehnica University of Timișoara, with
the task of designing a church worthly of the devoutness
of the believers in the district and fitted into the
architectural design, with its unique belfry and elements
of modern technology (such as the central heating system,
the first of this kind in the churches of Timișoara)
make this church a true jewel of the martyr city.
The religious service to hallow the site and set the
foundation of the church was held on September 8th 1931
by the bishop of Arad, Grigorie Comșa, asisted by archimandrite
Policarp Morușca, Vasile Lăzărescu, vicar Ioan Imbroane,
rector and priests.
The construction of the church and the parish house were
committed to the architect Constantin Purcariu on August
30th 1932. On Octomber 30th 1932 the parish house was
hollowed in the presence of the Minister of Arts and
Cults, Dimitrie Gusti.
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The building and endowment of the
church was concluded in 1936. The church is made of
brick and it is ship-shaped. Its surface is 2000 square
meters and it can hold up to 1000 people. Its design
was inspired by the famous Saint Sofia Cathedral in
Constantinopole, with a 24 meters Byzantine central
cupola covered within, in the traditional monastery
style, with a 33 meters high tin-roofed pyramidal frustum-shaped
belfry, buttresses and four flaring balconies.
The mural painting was done in 1935-1936 by professor Catul Bogdan (the apse
of the shrine and the continuation) and Ioachim Miloia (the central cupola and
the semi cylindrical cault towards the shrine, as well as the icons on the iconostasis).
In 1958 professor Victor Jurca, who added 70 scenes and compositional areas in
tempera and fresco manners. The iconostasis, the chandelier and God`s Tomb, in
the style of the baptistery from Curtea de Argeș, were sculpted in lime wood
by master Ștefan Gajo. The thrones, pews and the chair in the church are sculpted
in oak, bearing the same patterns as the iconostasis, by master Traian Novac,
while furniture and the ark in the Holy Shrine were created in 2001-2002 by the
sculptor Ilie Sârbu from Caransebeș.
The floor is made of white Rușchița marble, with pink marble patterns, and the
shrine, which has steps and railings of white marble with lily branches, illustrates
the Seven Holy Mysteries and the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. In the basement of
the shrine there is vicar Ioan Imbroane`s tomb, under a marble plate with a frame
of lilies. The six bells, harmonized in arpeggio, were moulded in 1936. The churchyard
and its park are surrounded by a brick wall and a wrought iron lattice work,
also built in 1936.
The parish council, gathered on August 30th 1936, decided that the hallowing
service should be held on September 8th 1936, on the occasion of the celebration
of the church festival. The service was held by the bishop of Arad, Andrei Magieru,
together with a group of 22 priests and the Romanian choir from Coștei (Serbia).
A few thousand believers attended the service and so did the representatives
of the local authorities, commanders of millitary units and the police, other
officials. After restoration the church was blessed in 1958 by Bishop Vasile
Lăzărescu and on September 7th 1986 by His Holiness Nicolae Corneanu, the Banat
Metropolitan Bishop.
For the church Iosefin vicar Ioan Imbroane founded the choir "Doina Banatului",
conducted by musicologist Nicolae Ursu, the only permanent religious choir at
the time not only in Timișoara, but in the whole Timiș-Torontal county. In addition,
the vicar also founded the women`s charitable organization "Regina Maria",
a surgery and also organized a sports field by the Bega River "so that the
parish youth could have fun under the church supervision" (The Parish Chronicle,
page 8).
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