The 120th anniversary of one of the symbolic Catholic settlements in northern Bulgaria, Burdarski Geran, was celebrated on the last Sunday in May. Its inhabitants are in fact the descendents of the first Bulgarian Catholics who came from Ciprovzi; led by the Catholic bishop Petar Parchevich, they staged the first revolt against the Turkish occupation in 1688. The revolt was crushed. These forefathers of Bulgarian Catholics then moved to the territory in the region of Banat in what is now Romania. After the liberation of Turkey from Ottoman rule, the Bulgarians of the Banat returned to their homeland and established five Catholic villages, all in the diocese of Nicopoli. “Our belonging to Catholicism – the leader of the “Girl of Palken” group Pavel Velchov explained to SIR – was fundamental in preserving our Bulgarian language and Bulgarian culture. To this day we are always moved when we sing the liturgical chants in our dialect of Palken”. Father Stefan Calapisc, the first Bulgarian priest ordained after the fall of the regime in the diocese of Nicopoli, also came from Banat. “Our Catholic faith and the Church have always been the pillars that helped us to preserve our identity in a foreign land, because still today many Bulgarians of Banat live in Romania. In spite of the difficulties and the sacrifices we always try to look to the future with hope”.
