FAGARAS. – City of Transylvania, formerly the seat of a bishopric established in 1721 by Pope Clement IX, in place of the older one of Alba Iulia.
Only Bishop Giovanni Giurgiu, however, resided at F., because his successor transferred his see to Blaj. The diocese nevertheless retained the title of F. until the reactivation of the bishopric of Alba Iulia (1835). When the latter was raised to the rank of archbishopric and metropolitan see, the archbishop came to assume the title of metropolitan see of Alba Iulia and F. On 10 May 1950, the auxiliary bishop of F. and Alba Iulia, Mons. Basilio Aftenie, died for the cause of the Faith in Vacaresti prison in Bucharest.
Area: 201,572 sq. km.; inhabitants: 17,000,000; Catholics: 412,486; parishes: 606.