Vasile Mangra and the Personality of Moise Nicoară

Besides his political activity and ecclesiastical career, Vasile Mangra remains known as an outstanding scholar, thanks to his manifold scientific concerns, illustrated through his studies on history, theology, etc. Vasile Mangra manifested a special interest in the personality of Moise Nicoară. Thus, among Mangra’s priorities in the field of historical research was also the restitution of the manuscripts left by the “great representative of the Romanian nation”. It was a pioneering work because, to that date, historiographical references concerning Moise Nicoară had been, if not entirely absent, then at least rather sparse. Thus, Mangra’s great merit resided in his endeavor to convey to posterity pages from the life of Moise Nicoară. The manner in which he carried out that project complied with the prerequisites of positivism, for Mangra placed special emphasis on as accurate as possible a retrieval of Nicoară’s documents, which largely consisted in his correspondence. In any case, he relaunched the historiographical debate about Moise Nicoară and this is, perhaps, Vasile Mangra’s undeniable merit from the period preceding the first global conflagration.