THE BOOK “THE ORIGIN OF THE CSANGOS FROM MOLDOVA ” Bucharest Scientific and Encyclopedic Publishing House - 1985 Author - professor Dumitru Mărtinaș Summary and excerpts from the book The history of research on the csangos is long, full of adventures and very often, in vain searches. Their problem has constantly caught the attention of scholars because of the Hungarian language that is still heard in several villages in Moldova. “The enigmatic” csangos of Moldova did not come by detours from a lesser known epoch of our history, which could not be to the liking of former researchers. It was impossible to annul their past, so they tried to adjust it for a long time. In this long and laborious task of research, an element of great scientific significance was forgotten: their Romanian speech . It was believed that by silencing the original language of a population and substituting a foreign language that did not suit it and that it could never learn correctly, its historical past could be buried in oblivion and absorption within the population. Hungarian will be insured. Numerous scientific observers (historians, geographers) or simple travelers have been amazed that the csangos, usually considered to be of Hungarian origin, have a characteristic Romanian physiognomy and tenaciously preserve the Transylvanian Romanian language, Romanian customs, traditions and the old Romanian port of the Carpathian region. Scientists and political leaders about Roman Catholics (csangos) in Moldova. Hungarian historians and linguists have spread a series of hypotheses and legends about the origin of the csangos, trying to argue that the csangos were of Cumanian, Cabaret, Pecheneg or Hunic origin based on the confessional argument and ignoring ethnographic arguments, without observing customs. , folk costume and csango traditions. The hypothesis of the Romanian origin of the csangos was omitted. Even some Romanian historians have stated that the csangos would have a different origin than the Romanian one, their arguments being based on the confessional (belonging to the Roman Catholic church) and linguistic (bilingualism of the csangos) criteria. There were also historians or politicians who recognized the Romanian origin of Moldovan Roman Catholics and demanded the granting of the same rights to Moldovan Catholics as to the majority of the population. Dimitrie Cantemir noted about the Catholics of his time, that they declare themselves Catholics by nation and by religion. In the Ad-hoc Divan of Moldova, Mihail Kogălniceanu defended the rights of Moldovan Roman Catholics by rejecting a bill that would have left Moldovan Catholics without rights. Costache Negri supported the rights of Moldovan Catholics, stating that they ““ together with us, for centuries, in all our days of pain and bitterness have drawn and suffered at the same time all the sufferings with which the Lord God willingly rebuked us, to bring us to the wisdom and justice we need today… ”. The linguist Sever Pop (1901-1961), the author of the Romanian Linguistic Atlas, recorded “The women's costume, from the region, has nothing Hungarian; on the contrary, it offers all the characteristics of the costumes from the mountainous region of Moldova ”. In 1887, Ballagi Aladár, the president of the Hungarian Geographical Society, visited the village of Cleja in Bacău County, on which occasion he could not hide his surprise, saying about the villagers that “they seem to be Wallachians. Not only their dress but also their physiognomy bears the Wallachian imprint… ”. In 1787, Count d’Hauterive, secretary of Prince Alexandru Mavrocordat, mentioned in a memorandum that the csangos of Moldavia are passionate dancers and skilled performers of Romanian dances. Speaking about the Roman Catholics in Moldova, the historian Nicolae Iorga admiringly expressed his surprise at the Romanian clothing of the csangos described by him “… with beautiful towering ports…”, whose women wrap their heads “… in big white brocades, in all also their size and the way they are caught, with those of the girls and wives of the Făgăraș mountain… ”, the great historian concluding that the csangos“… are not nearly as foreign as one might suspect… ”. Catholic missionaries about the csangos in Moldova As early as 1234, a papal letter mentions that on the territory of the Milcov diocese, Catholics mingled with the Wallachians, converted to their faith, and became a people with them. The same mention, regarding the transition of Catholics to the Orthodox religion, is made by Archbishop Marco Bandini in the report prepared by him in Bacau, on March 2, 1648, a document in which were noted the findings made during the visit of the high prelate to Catholic localities in Moldova. . In 1763, the bishop of Bacău, Stanislau Jezierski noted that "in all Moldova the number of Catholics increases only through Catholics coming from Transylvania" and because these "Transylvanian Catholics belong to the Hungarian rule" Moldovans do not call them Catholics but Hungarians. ”. Also in 1763, Iosif Cambioli, Prefect of the Franciscan Mission in Moldavia, recorded “… for seven years now, the number of our Catholics has increased and increases every day, not because non- Catholics would come to us, but because in Hungary and especially In Transylvania there has been and is famine and now, since the peace between the Austrians and the Prussians, soldiers have been taken by force and that is why whole families and a large number of young people from 14 years onwards have come and come in this province, because from this age he enlisted in the army… ”. According to Catholic missionaries, in addition to the heavy economic burdens (huge taxes and fees paid by Transylvanian Romanians), which led Romanian peasants to take refuge in Moldova, was forced military service, introduced by the Austrian authorities aimed at annexing Transylvania and Bucovina, with the aim of increasing the army. In order to extend their influence over the Moldovan Roman Catholics, the Hungarian missionaries tried to influence the decisions taken at the Vatican, suggestive in this sense being the letter addressed to Pope Pius VI by the Bishop of Alba Iulia Ignațiu Batthyani who expressed his grief. for the fate of Catholic believers in Moldova, stating that they understand only the Hungarian language, that Italian missionaries do not preach, confess and catechize in the language of the people, Bishop Ignatius Batthyani requesting the withdrawal of Italian missionaries and their replacement with Hungarian missionaries sent by him. Knowing the realities of Moldavia, on January 7, 1788, Pope Pius VI responded to Bishop Ignatius Batthyani, telling him that it was not necessary to be sad because Italian missionaries use Romanian in pastoral care, which is the native language of the vast majority of the population. Catholics from Moldova and for the Hungarian-speaking believers, the Cardinal of Esztergom was authorized to send to Moldova, two missionaries who know Hungarian. During the period of Bishop Ioan-Filip Paroni (1818-1825), it was no longer possible to provide missionary staff in Moldova, which is why the support of the province of the conventual Franciscans in Transylvania was requested and the pastorate was done for about 40 years by Hungarian priests. . During this pastoral period, the gospel was read in Hungarian, as was the sermon, church songs and litany were sung in Hungarian, the names of the parishioners were Hungarianized and in some cases the names of the localities were Hungarianized. All these actions meant to introduce the Hungarian language in the Catholic communities of Moldova, generated a conflict between parishioners and priests, the first complaining to the Apostolic Vicar of Moldova that they do not understand anything at religious services and Hungarian missionaries complaining that the Hungarian language is dying out. Moldova. The conflict was extinguished when Hungarian missionaries were withdrawn from Moldova. Roman Catholics in Moldova about themselves The csangos did not know themselves as Hungarians, they lived according to their Romanian coordinates and spoke a Transylvanian Romanian language, an expression of their Romanian origin. They have always declared themselves Romanians. In the work Description of Moldova, Dimitrie Cantemir - mentioning the existence of Catholics in this territory - notes that they avoided saying that they were Hungarians and speaking, they were called Catholics. The geographer Victor Tufescu (the founder of modern geography in Romania) noted that "almost everywhere, in the csango villages, no Hungarian word is heard and the so-called csango people there are considered insulted if they are called Hungarians and not Romanians". The Hungarian writer Ignácz Rózsa (1909-1979) who traveled through Moldova notes the total absence of Hungarian consciousness and the vigorous resurgence of Romanian patriotism among the inhabitants of Luizi Călugăra, Bacău County. The struggle of Moldovan Catholics for the assertion of Romanian identity and for their rights can best be expressed in the words of a Catholic resident of Săbăoani village elected deputy in Roman, who was greeted by the steward with the message that he does not recognize him as a deputy because he is Catholic. That Catholic resident of Săbăoani replied: “How are you, lady, now that all the villages have chosen me to defend their rights in the great Assembly, I am a Catholic and I cannot be a deputy? But when you put us at war, when you take our office, when we give you virgins to the army, when we make you boyar, then we are not Catholics, but you look at us as Orthodox? If it is, ladies, that we cannot be deputies because we are papists, then give us peace to be papists in the offices and in the beilic and in all the offices… ” The author's final conclusions 1 . The csangos were not linguistically assimilated in Moldavia, they did not learn Romanian here, because in 1766 they were bilingual and spoke Romanian in their old language brought from Transylvania. 2 . They still do not speak in Moldovan today but in their specific Transylvanian, sigmatizing and Africanizing language. 3 . Both Africanization and sigmatism are popular Transylvanian phonetic phenomena. 4 . The language of the csango, like the historical data, confirms again the thesis that they are Transylvanian Romanians, some partially Magyariized in Szeklers, settled in Moldova in the 18th century. Buzau, February 6, 1963 Dumitru Mărtinaș