The Roman-Catholic Church

THE ROMAN-CATHOLIC CHURCH The Catholic community of Buzău is mentioned in 1687, when the missionary bishop Vitos Pilutus, who was active in Moldova, sent a report on the situation of Catholics in Wallachia to the Propaganda congregation of Rome, showing that there are many Catholics in Buzău, but there is no priest to take care of them. In 1844, the Prefecture of Buzău district gave the small Catholic community a special place for the cemetery and the Catholic dead were buried here until 1880. In 1898, Buzău Catholic Parish was founded. The services were held in rented houses, which had a chapel and a home for the priest and later even a room for the school. At the time when Buzău Catholic Parish was administered from Bucharest, in 1911, preparations began for the construction of the current church. First, a portion of land was sold, which was given to the Catholic community by the City Hall in exchange for the old Catholic cemetery, and with the resulting money, the land on which the church and parish house are located today was bought. Between 1912-1913, through the contest of the canonical priest Augustin Kuczka of Bucharest, who administered the parish, the current church was built. It was consecrated by Archbishop Raymond Netzhammer. Between 1922-1924, at the initiative of priest Emmanuel Kreis, the parish house was built next to the church, made of brick and covered with tiles. It was consecrated by the same Archbishop Raymond Netzhammer. In almost 110 years of its existence, the building suffered several damages, during the earthquake of 1940, the bombings of 1944, and especially during the earthquake of 4th March 1977. The steps for the construction of the new parish began in 1982 at the civil and religious authorities, the work being finished in 1988, after many obstacles raised by the communist authorities. The works were started, supervised and finished by priest Ioan Ciuraru.