20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

858 Maria ParizaEmanuil Gojdu 28 (1802-1870), a name which we must honour, beginsfrom 1830 to support financially the Calendarul Românesc newspaper andstarting with 1832 he tries to help Romanian students who frequented hishouse and later on will create the famous Emanuil Gojdu Foundation whosupported students from all over the country. Emanuil Gojdu’s name is alsofound in The Romanian Library magazine (the 3 rd part, 1830), along witha Cuvântare de rugăciune addressed to ‟the brilliant boyars of Wallachiaand Moldavia” through which he wanted to challenge them to ‟a fierypatriotic desire for our language through the printing of books in our nativelanguage. This way, our nation will bloom and gain its place among othercultivated and thriving nations.”This intervention is due to the fact that he was an “everghet”(philanthropist); one cannot really talk about Emanuil Gojdu’s carrer as apublicist; and will remain so in the memory of Romanian people.While commenting upon the Testament of Emanuil Godju, published byMatei Voileanu in 1899, the writer and publicist Ilarie Chendi 29 (page 360)draws attention to the fact that “We must look for the testament of EmanuilGodju somewhere else and pass it on to the younger generation. The truetestament of Godju lies in his speeches and publications, and in his lettersfrom official and private archives. In all these lies buried a great treasure,which is more valuable than its equivalent in gold. The young generationmust know the reasons that made the founder act this way. We can look atnumbers in awe, but we cannot establish an emotional connection with thefounder until we have established a psychological one”.This speech appeared in a lot of important Romanian newspapers fromTransylvania. All these contributions that were brought to the Romanianprints in the capital of Hungary and later on in Transylvania by the twomembers of “The Romanian Library” are in deep connection with thecultural and patriotic spirit of the Macedo-romanian colony where the twoof them were born.When dealing with this subject, we cannot overlook the name of28Son of a Aromanian merchant and of a woman from Bihor, Ana, Atanasie Popovici,also known as Gojdu was born in Oradea, in 1802. He studied Law at the University ofBratislava, graduating in 1824, and then moving to Budapest, where he would frequentthe highest societies of Romanian and Hungarian intellectuals. See also: Diaconovici,Cornel 1900, The Romanian Encyclopedia, vol. II, Sibiu, 588; Lupaş, I. 1940, EmanuilGozsdu, His origin and work, Bucharest 3; Emanuil Gojdu (1802-1870): Speeches held atthe commemorative scientific, 1972.29Chendi, Ilarie 1900, The beginning of Romanian journalism: (1789-1795), Orăştie:Minerva, 360.