Ioan Bob was born from a
noble Romanian family in October or November 1739 in Orman, near
Iclod () in
Kolozs County, now
Romania. He attended the secondary schools by the
Jesuits but fallen ill he could not enter in
seminary. In 1764, he entered as
novice in the
Basilian monastery of
Blaj. After some months, because he could not bear the strict discipline, he withdraw from the monastic life working simply as lay administrator of the monastery. In 1773, he was sent by his friend Bishop
Grigore Maior to study in
Trnava where he graduated in theology. Returned to Romania, after a period of illness, he moved to Blaj where, on 25 December 1777, he was ordained a
deacon and, on 8 April 1778, a
priest. He worked for some months in the
diocesan chancery. In 1778, he was appointed
Dean in
Daia Română and in 1779 to
Târgu Mureş. In 1782, the Primate of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, the
Bishop of Făgăraş Grigore Maior, resigned. According to the praxis, the electoral synod was convened in August 1782 and Bob resulted the third voted. Nevertheless, he was designated by the
Emperor Joseph II on 21 October 1783, and enthroned on 2 July 1784. Bob was a firm supporter of the rights of the Romanian population under the
Holy Roman Empire. He actually, along with the
Orthodox bishop
Gherasim Adamovici, signed and brought the
Supplex Libellus Valachorum before the Imperial Court of Vienna on March 30, 1792. This courageous act was rejected anyway. Bob introduced an authoritarian model of leadership in his Church which led also to some clashes. He died on 2 October 1830. He wrote a Dictionary of
Romanian language published in
Cluj (1822–1823), with about 11,000 Romanian words, which also gives the equivalent
Latin and
Hungarian. He promoted the printing of religious books, handbooks, and theological books. He also supported the edition of the
Bible in Romanian known as
Bible of Blaj (translated by
Samuil Micu and published in 1795), the second translation of the
Holy Scriptures in Romanian. == Notes ==