Csíkszentlélek

CSÍKSZENTLÉLEK (Leliceni, Rumania today), east from Csíkszereda, is an unusual village. It consists of four separated packs of houses, each called by the Székelys tizes (Engl. tens), which probably referred to the number of houses in one pack. Once, these four packs comprised a whole village, but as a results of the repeated Tartars killing raids, entire sections of the village disappeared, in particular in 1614, when almost entire Csíkszentlélek was destroyed. The empty spaces left between the houses have never been refilled and stay empty up to the present day. The groups of the separated houses became known as packs.
The first document recording the name of Csíkszentlélek is a revenue list of the pope, dated 1332, when it quotes the village as Joannes Sacerdos de spiritu solv. 2 banales ant. This confirms that the village already had a chapel in the 12th century, which is in compliance with the order of Saint Stephen I (1000-1038), the first Hungarian king, that every village should put out a chapel. The late gothic church is from the 15th century. It is surrounded by walls, and the huge linden-tree, standing next to the wall is over a 100 years old. Under the tree, the village authorities used to hold their meetings with the people until the turn of the century.