Alexandru Todea (5 June 1912, Teleac, Mureș County–22 May 2002, Târgu Mureș) was a Romanian Greek-Catholic bishop of the Alba Iulia Diocese and later cardinal.
Early life Born into a peasant family, Todea was the 13th of 16 children. After attending primary school in his native village, and high school in Reghin and Blaj, Metropolitan bishop Vasile Suciu sent him to pursue his theological studies in Rome. He received his doctorate from the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide and returned to Romania in 1940.
He was also a victim of the communist regime, suffering at Jilava, Sighet, and Pitești prisons.
He was created cardinal on 28 June 1991 and given the titular church of Sant'Atanasio a Via Tiburtina.
Health and death In 1992, Cardinal Todea suffered a paralyzing stroke. He recovered, but was rendered unable to walk or talk for the rest of his life.
Todea is buried at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Blaj.
References
Valentin Borda and Mircea Borda, Alexandru Todea: protopop, episcop, mitropolit, cardinal în Biserica Română Unită cu Roma, Greco-Catolică, Târgu-Mureș: Casa de editură Petru Maior, 1999. Silvestru Augustin Prunduș and Clemente Plăianu, Cardinalul Dr. Alexandru Todea: la 80 de ani (1912-1992), Ordinul Sfînful Vasile cel Mare, Provincia "Sf. Apostoli Petru si Pavel", 1992. Silvestru Augustin Prunduș and Clemente Plăianu, Catolicism și Ortodoxie Românească – scurt istoric al Bisericii Române Unite, Cluj-Napoca: Casa de Editură Viața Creștină, 1994.