The Status of Woman seen by the Church in the Romanian Society of Transylvania from the second half of the 19th Century.

This article presents the condition of the woman in the Romanian society of Transylvania in the second half of the nineteenth century in the view of the two Romanian, Orthodox and Greek Catholic Churches - as reflected in the ecclesiastical legislation of the time regarding familly life. The church, irrespective of confession, considering marriage a secret, claimed the necessity of its involvement in all affairs of matrimonial life: engagement, marriage itself, marital morality, divorce. The Conception of the Holy Fathers of the Christian Church concerning the family's purpose and the status of the woman are the basis of church regulations in the field. With the augmentation of the social role of the Austrian state, the influence of secular legislation can be observed in the evolution of certain ecclesiastical provisions, the two Churches trying to adapt to the new stateinduced changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]