Bishop of Oradea Mare (Romanian)
Virgil Bercea is Bishop of Oradea Mare [Gran Varadino] of the Romanians, Romania. Virgil Bercea, son of Simion and Lucreţia, was born on 9 December 1957 in the village of Habic, Mureş county. He attended general school, classes I-VIII, in his native village (1964-1972), attended high school in Reghin from 1972-1976, and then completed military service at Sighetul Marmaţiei. From 1977-1981 he continued his studies at the Faculty of Agronomy of the Agronomic Institute in Cluj-Napoca. After graduation he was assigned to the research station in Târgu Mureș, where he worked as a researcher until 1990. During his university period in Cluj, he studied theology clandestinely and was then ordained a priest, also clandestinely, on 9 December 1982 by Archbishop Alexandru Todea. As a priest he carried out clandestine pastoral activity in Târgu-Mureș and the surrounding area. From 1990-1992 he pursued specialization in dogmatic theology at the Urbaniana University in Rome, concluding with a licentiate in theology on the topic Particular Churches and the Universal Church in the Context of the Encyclical Christi Fideles Laici. In 1992 he returned to Romania and was appointed vicar general in Blaj and professor of dogmatic theology at the Theological Academy in Blaj. He was consecrated bishop on 8 September 1994 and appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Blaj. From 6 November 1996 he has been bishop at Oradea, first as coadjutor of Bishop Vasile Hossu and then, from 8 June 1997, as eparchial bishop. In 2003 he received the title Doctor of Theology after defending the work Il mistero che Unisce lo Spirito Santo alla Chiesa at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome.