Vasile Lucaciu (January 21, 1852 â November 29, 1922) was a Romanian Greek-Catholic priest and an advocate of equal rights of Romanians with the Hungarians in Transylvania.
Vasile Lucaci was born in Apa, Szatmár County, the son of Mihai Lucaciu and Iuliana Toth. He went to school in his native village and then attended gymnasium in Baia Mare. For high school, he first went to Uzhhorod and then to the Jesuit school in Oradea.
His parish was in ÃÂiÃÂeÃÂti, MaramureÃÂ where he built a school and a church.
Lucaciu was a member of the National Romanian Party and a co-author of the Transylvanian Memorandum (1892). As a consequence, Vasile Lucaciu was tried for "homeland betrayal" in Kolozsvár/Cluj in May 1894 and sentenced to five years in prison. However he was released after one year. During this period, the song âÂÂDoina lui Lucaciuâ was dedicated to him.
In 1905, he was elected deputy for the Belényes/Beiuàconstituency in the Hungarian Parliament.
In March 1917, Vasile Lucaciu was a member of a group of exiled Romanian Habsburg subjects who were sent as a delegation to the United States to campaign for Romania's cause. He died in 1922 in Satu Mare and was buried in ÃÂiÃÂeÃÂti.
Lucaciu is also known as the "Lion of ÃÂiÃÂeÃÂti". People can visit today his in ÃÂiÃÂeÃÂti, as well as the school, both being now museums.
The Vasile Lucaciu National College in Baia Mare is named after him. A boulevard in Satu Mare and streets in Baia Mare, Bucharest, PloieÃÂti, and TimiÃÂoara also bear his name.