“Haeresis Armenorum Transsylvaniae”: Bishop György Mártonffy and the Armenian Catholic Church in Transylvania (1718–1721)

Abstract

Bishop György Mártonffy (1663−1721) is regarded not only as one of the key figures of Re-Catholicisation, but also as the most important innovator of Catholicism in Transylvania. He was the first Roman Catholic prelate to gain a foothold in the Principality of Transylvania, and after more than a hundred years, he was also able to perform the episcopal office in Transylvania, which had been vacant before. According to the small amount of old-fashioned literature at scholarship’s disposal, Bishop Mártonffy built cordial and harmonious relations with the Uniate (Catholic) Armenian Church in Transylvania. However, this idyllic view has been very much nuanced by recent archival research. Moreover, the hand-written documents about this relationship preserved in the archives of the Apostolic Holy See in Rome and the Vatican City use a completely different tone. Therefore, the main objective of the article is to revise Bishop Mártonffy’s relations with the Armenian Catholic Church in Transylvania, on the basis of the archival sources, which have been partially discovered or not yet fully discovered. Furthermore, in this brief study, I also address the church-historical processes that led to the deterioration of relations between the Uniate Armenians, who were already loyal to Rome, and the Roman Catholic Episcopacy in Transylvania, led by Bishop Mártonffy from the early eighteenth century.