chaplain so the new lieutenant left in December 1914 from Timișoara to Vienna where he tended to the soldiers. Episcopate Austria-Hungary Pope Benedict XV appointed him as the Bishop of Gherla on 17 April 1917 and he received his episcopal consecration on 4 December 1917; the Blessed Karl I nominated him for the position on 3 March and forwarded it to the pope for his confirmation. Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia In November 1918 Bishop Hossu was nominated representative by right in the National Assemby of all Romanians in Hungary, which declared the Union of Transylvania with Romania on 1 December 1918. On 1 December 1918 Hossu read the Resolution of the National Assembly in front of the crowds gathered in Alba Iulia, preceding it with the following words: "Brethren, the hour of fulfillment is this one, when God Almighty is speaking out His centuries-old longing for justice through His faithful people. Today, by our decision, Greater Romania is achieved, one and indivisible, all Romanians from these lands happily calling: We are joining forever our Motherland, Romania! [..] Justice has prevailed". Next day, at Iuliu Maniu's proposal, the High National Romanian Council mandated representatives Vasile Goldiș, Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, Iuliu Hossu, and Miron Cristea to go to King Ferdinand I and present him with the Resolution of the National Assembly. Kingdom of Romania Hossu was named as the Bishop of Cluj-Gherla when the see was transferred on 5 June 1930 and Pope Pius XI later appointed him as the Apostolic Administrator of Maramureș from 1930 until 1931 when a successor for that diocese was named. Hossu was named an Assistant at the Pontifical Throne on 16 September 1936 which made him a Monsignor. He also made the Apostolic Administrator of Oradea Mare from 1941 until 1947 when Pope Pius XII appointed him as such. Communist repression, forced attempts at union with Orthodox Church For his opposition to the government, he was forced to flee his diocese on 28 October 1948 but was soon arrested. He was confined at Jilava and Dragoslavele and later at Sighet and Gherla prisons from 1948 to 1964. He was relocated to a convent near Bucharest from that point until 1970, and was transferred to a hospital there in May 1970. Hossu opposed the forced passage of Greek-Catholic believers to the Romanian Orthodox Church. On 1 October 1948 he gave an Exclamation Decree (ipso facto) to