210 years of Catholic education in Bucharest

The history of Catholic confessional education within the Romanian territories spans several centuries.

Steliu Lambru, 30.03.2026, 14:00

In Moldavia, Catholic confessional education was introduced earlier, being linked to the presence of the Catholic bishoprics at the end of the 13th century. In Wallachia, there were attempts at Roman religious organization, which, however, did not withstand the instability caused by the migrations of the 11th-13th centuries. The emergence of the Greek-Catholic Church in Transylvania starting the end of the 17th century meant Catholic education in Romanian, in which Latin occupied a central place.

Rodica Miron is the director of the “Saint Joseph” Roman-Catholic College in Bucharest and she explains the importance of the Greek-Catholic church in the development of Catholic education in the Romanian area: “We knew, at the beginning of the 18th century, that the Greek Catholic Church had been existing since 1698, when a good part of the Orthodox in Transylvania united with Rome. Ever since then, they had raised the issue of European-style education, with methods that came from Vienna, so from the West. A lot was done on cultivating the Romanian language, meaning that the people had to understand what they were learning. Of course, Latin was taught in every school and was a bridge to the West, to the higher studies that would follow afterwards. We know that according to this model, which worked in Transylvania, the Wallachian princes Șerban Cantacuzino and Constantin Brâncoveanu took care of the Greek Academy in Bucharest. If in Transylvania the Latin language was strong, in the south, the ancient Greek language was introduced. That is how the Greek Academy at Saint Sava began.”

There were huge differences between the two Romanian provinces. One of them was the presence of Catholicism. In Moldavia, the Catholic influence from Poland stronger, while in Wallachia, the Orthodox influence from the southern Balkans, from Bulgaria and Serbia, was felt more. Rodica Miron: “In Moldavia, Catholic education had already begun through the monastic orders. The same thing was somehow wanted in Wallachia. Only that here, the situation was a little more difficult in terms of the episcopate. If in Transylvania, for example, thanks to the Habsburg Empire, school was able to gain momentum, even the one in the Romanian language, through the Greek Catholics, in Wallachia things were more difficult to do. In the meantime, the Orthodox Church had also gained momentum, which always saw this opening to the West as something not exactly good, as a way of proselytism. And then, more or less, it put obstacles to the momentum of Catholic religious congregations to open schools. However, education was made in every parish.”

However, the 19th century would bring great changes to the Romanian society. Modern ideas, Europeanization and the separation from the oriental influence exerted by the Ottoman Empire led to a rapprochement with the Western world. The great political changes on the European continent during the Napoleonic Wars and the perceptions of the old governance practices made Romanians want other models of life and education. A few years before the revolution of 1821, the first year of the century that would produce an important change in the status of the Romanian Principalities, the first Catholic school in Bucharest was inaugurated. Rodica Miron: “And here we are in 1816, an important year, a historical turning point. On the one hand, the Phanariots had become undesirable to the Ottoman Porte, which was convinced that they were no longer very sincere, so it no longer had much trust in them. And, on the other hand, the Romanians had had enough of them, both those from Moldavia and those here, from Wallachia, and aspired to something else. And then, given that the Bucharest elite wanted a Western school, conditions were created to help the monks who were here, so the bishops of Cioplea were helped to open a school. And it was the year 1816 when Redemptorist monks, specially trained in Vienna, were brought for this purpose.”

It was a model of a modern school, where Christian doctrine was taught together with sciences and skills. Rodica Miron: “There were also Franciscan monks, but they only taught catechism. The bishop, on the other hand, brings in real teachers to take care of the school, with rigorous methods and an adequate curriculum. The school combined philosophy with foreign languages and sciences, with mathematics, with topography. They wanted a school for everyone, not just for Catholics. It was a school managed by the Catholic Church in keeping with the Western norms.”

In the years to come, Catholic education would develop as Romanian society moved forward towards modernization. The emergence of the Romanian state in 1859 meant a lot. And the establishment of elite schools, such as the Saint Mary Institute and the Notre Dame de Sion High School, were natural results of the spirit of those times. (EE)