Born in Vintere village, Bihor County, he attended high school in Beiuș, entering the seminary in Oradea upon graduation in 1931.
He then started teaching at the Oradea seminary, following the area's reincorporation into Romania at the end of World War II.
[2] At the request of Frențiu, who had been arrested, he was secretly consecrated auxiliary bishop of the Oradea Mare Diocese by Gerald Patrick O'Hara in July 1949, although he accepted reluctantly, as the office interrupted his project of a critical edition of the Bible.
[1][2] He carried out his duties until being arrested in December 1952 and condemned by the Military Tribunal of Oradea to 12 years of forced labor for high treason.
He was sent to prisons in Oradea, Văcărești, Jilava, Târgu Ocna, Pitești, Satu Mare, Dej, and Gherla, being released in July 1964.