During spring 2026, project member Antal Molnár’s recent research and newly published book on early modern Moldavia and Catholic confessionalization was presented at a series of international events. The international dissemination of Antal Molnár’s recent monograph, titled Catholic Confessionalization in Early Modern Moldavia: The Synod of Cotnari and the Speculum Ordinis of Bartolomeo Bassetti OFMConv. (1642) began in Vienna in June 2025 and continued throughout 2026 with presentations and lectures in Cluj-Napoca, Rome, the Vatican, and Paris. The book launches and invited lectures introduced the results of his long-term research to diverse scholarly audiences and sparked international dialogue on the religious and cultural history of East-Central Europe.
On 24 June 2025, the monograph was presented at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. The event brought together an international panel consisting of Gábor Kármán, Maria Teresa Fattori, and Ovidiu Olar, with Emese Muntán serving as moderator. The first event of 2026 took place on 10 March in Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár), where the Babeș-Bolyai University organized the presentation of Molnár’s new book. The event featured a presentation by Antal Molnár as well, titled “Italian Missionaries and Hungarian Liturgy in Moldavia. Lessons of a Long Journey Research”.
On 17 March 2026, Antal Molnár’s monograph was presented at the Hungarian Academy in Rome. The event attracted significant scholarly interest and brought together historians and church historians working on the history of Catholicism, the Holy See, and East-Central Europe. The discussion highlighted the volume’s international relevance and its contribution to the study of confessionalization processes in the early modern period.
The dissemination of the research continued with a prestigious presentation in the Vatican on 15 May 2026. The event was held at the Casina Pio IV, seat of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, during a closed scholarly gathering organized by the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences to present recent volumes of its Atti e Documenti series. Molnár introduced his monograph as volume 73 of the series, emphasizing its examination of the 1642 Synod of Cotnari and its extensive unpublished source material. The presentation underscored the international dimensions of Moldavian Catholic history and its connections with Hungarian, Polish, Italian, and Balkan religious cultures.
The series concluded with Paris, on 2 June 2026, when Molnár delivered an invited lecture on early modern Moldavian Catholicism. Addressing an international academic audience, the presentation explored the development of Catholic institutions in Moldavia and examined the interaction between local traditions and broader European processes of religious reform.
