On June 27, 1953, romanian Greek Catholic bishop and martyr Ioan Suciu passed away in the Sighet prison in order to be with the Lord. His aides in the Legionary Movement tried to save him before his arrest in 1948 by getting him out of the country, but the bishop refused to leave. His books Youth and Heroism urged a heroic Christian life and were recommended to the young members of the Legionary Movement. He wrote to the faithful on October 5, 1948, when the communist authorities launched a campaign to dissolve the Greek Catholic Church and convert her clerics to Eastern Orthodoxy:
"Do not be deceived by committees, by words, by news, by lies, but stand strong, unwavering, steadfast in the faith for which our ancestors and forefathers shed blood. Do not put your name on any paper that requires you to forsake the law of your fathers. They will threaten you, they will beat you, they will take you to trials and before the judges. Do not be afraid, God is with each one of us, and will not let us be tempted and suffer more than we can bear. The world is looking at us, at the believers of the Uniate [Greek-Catholic] Church. We are a sight to the world. Oh, beloved faithful, let us not be a herd of fools, but confessors of the faith, be resolute members of the Church of Jesus in the Romanian Nation... Even if they take away our churches for a while, we will make a church at home, waiting full of hope for the deliverance, which will not be long."
He was beatified by Pope Francis in 2019.
