He was a united Romanian bishop , arrested by the communist authorities in 1948 and died in prison. He was beatified by Pope Francis in 2019 . It is celebrated in the Catholic Church on June 2 .∼Roman Catholic Bishop. The fourth of nine children, Ioan Suciu was born in Blaj from a family who gave the Church several priests. One of his brothers, Gheorghe Claudiu Suciu was a chemist who contributed in the development, design and testing processes for the oil industry and a member of the Romanian Academy. An avid member of the Blaj Sports Club, Ioan attended the local Sfântul Vasile high school until the age of seventeen, when he decided to pursue his vocation as a priest. Sent to the Byzantine College of Saint Athanasius after earning a baccalaureate, he obtained doctorates in philosophy and theology, studying the latter under the renowned of Reginald Garrigou Lagrange, who personally congratulated him in front of all during his graduation ceremony, a rare circumstance on such occasions. Ordained priest on Rome on November 29, 1931, back in Romania he was appointed to the teaching staff in a number of high schools for boys, before being named to the Theological Academy in Blaj. Organizing sports and outdoor activities for his students in the spirit of Saint John Bosco, Suciu founded the "Marianistul" reviewed, later replaced by "Tinerimea Nouă". Appointed auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Oradea Mare at the early age of thirty two, becoming thus the youngest hierarch of the Catholic Church in the world, he received his episcopal consecration with the titular see of Moglaena from Bishop Valeriu Traian Frentiu on July 22, 1940. Soon emerging as one of the Church's greatest orators in Romania, Suciu was above all known for his activities among the youth. Appointed by the Holy See to the high responsibility of apostolic administrator of Făgăraş şi Alba Iulia in 1947 following the Communist occupation of Romania and their refusal to recognize Msgr. Alexandru Rusu's appointment to such office the year before, having soon fought Communism with all his efforts, he was soon deposed from his position by means of a government decree but this did not stop him for making some six hundred pastoral visits across his archdiocese. In the end, he was arrested and held in some twelve different prisons, ending up eventually in that of Sighet, where he spent his remaining four years of life incarcerated along with other Romanian Greek-Catholic bishops in prison cell 44. Tortures, beatings and lack of nutrition led the young prelate to infirmity and eventually to his early death at the age of forty five. Having received the last rites from Bishop Iuliu Hossu, his body was thrown into a mass grave and eventually lost. On June 2, 2019, Suciu and six other Romanian prelates were beatified by Pope Francis.