Born in Szelistye, Lupaş attended between 1886 and 1891 the primary school in his home village. In 1892 he started attending the State School in Nagyszeben, but, due to a conflict on national topics with his history teacher Árpád Trompa, he was forced to move to the Andrei Șaguna Orthodox School in Brassó, from where he graduated in 1900. He studied Philosophy and Literature at the University of Budapest on a "Gojdu Foundation" scholarship, graduating in 1904, and received his PhD from the University of Berlin with the thesis The Romanian Orthodox Church in Transylvania and the Communion with Rome in the 18th Century. Between 1905 and 1909, Lupaş taught Church History and Romanian History at the "Andreian" Institute of Theology in Sibiu and attended Theology courses. During his studies he made his debut in journalism and co-founded the Romanian-language Luceafărul magazine. In November 1907, Lupaş was brought to trial for seditious libel, being accused of having instigated the peasants to hatred against the landowners, and sentenced to three months imprisonment and a 200 Krone-fine. He served his three month-sentence in Szeged between August and October 1908, forced out of the Institute in 1909, and appointed priest to the Sălişte parish. The Romanian Academy elected him an associate member in 1914 and full member in 1916, at Nicolae Iorga's suggestion. However, due to the war, he managed to deliver his acceptance speech before the Academy on 8 June 1920. After Romania's entry in World War I on the Allied side, Lupaş was exiled to Sopron County and placed under house arrest. In 1918, he was elected representative for Sălişte in the Transylvanian National Assembly that declared the Union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania. Starting with 1919 he became professor at the University of Cluj, teaching Modern History and Transylvanian History until 1946, and in 1920, together with Alexandru Lapedatu, co-founded the National History Institute, located also in Cluj; he also taught Church History at the Theological Academy. Lupaş was elected president of the History Section of ASTRA and, between 1932 and 1935, president of the History Section of the Romanian Academy. In the interwar period, Ioan Lupaş served in the Chamber of Deputies for several mandates, and as Minister of Health and Social Security in the Alexandru Averescucabinet, as well as Minister of Culture and Arts in the Octavian Goga cabinet. Due to his political activity, he was arrested by the communist regime on 5 May 1950 and detained at Sighet prison until 5 May 1955. Lupaș died on 3 July 1867 and he was buried at the Cernica Monastery.
Works
Câteva pagini din trecutul comunei Sălişte
Schiţă istorică, Sibiu, 1903
Şovinismul confesional în istoriografia românească ardeleană. Studiu critic, Sibiu, 1903
Biserica ortodoxă din Transilvania şi unirea religioasă din veacul al XVIII-lea, Budapest, 1904
Contribuţii la istoria culturală şi politică a epocii lui Şaguna, Sibiu, 1907
Mitropolitul Andrei Şaguna. Scriere comemorativă la serbarea centenară a naşterii lui, Sibiu, 1909
Viaţa unei mame credincioase: Anastasia Şaguna, Sibiu, 1912
Misiunea episcopilor Gherasim Adamovici şi Ioan Bob la Curtea din Viena în anul 1792, Sibiu, 1912
Viaţa şi faptele lui Andrei Şaguna, mitropolitul Transilvaniei, Bucharest, 1913
Principele ardelean Acaţiu Barciai şi mitropolitul Sava Brancovici. 1658-1661, Bucharest, 1913
Contribuţiuni la istoria românilor ardeleni. 1780-1792, Bucharest, 1915
Episcopul Vasile Moga şi profesorul Gheorghe Lazăr, Bucharest, 1915
Din istoricul ziaristicii româneşti, Arad, 1916, 78 p.
Luptători pentru lumină, Arad, 1916
12 peţitori ai episcopiei transilvane vacante de la 1796 la 1810, Bucharest, 1916
Istoria bisericească a românilor ardeleni, Sibiu, 1918
Mitropolitul Andrei Şaguna, Sibiu, 1921
Andrei Şaguna şi conducătorii "Asociaţiei transilvane" ", Bucharest, 1923
Din activitatea ziaristică a lui Andrei Mureşanu, Bucharest, 1925
Contribuţii la istoria ziaristicii româneşti ardelene, Sibiu, 1926
Lecturi din izvoarele istorice române, Cluj, 1928
Istoria unirii românilor, Bucharest, 1937
Paralelism istoric, Bucharest, 1937
Realităţi istorice în voivodatul Transilvaniei în secolele XII-XVI, Bucharest, 1938
Doctorul Ioan Piuariu Molnar. Viaţa şi opera lui, 1749-1815, Bucharest, 1939
Emanuil Gojdu, 1802-1870. Originea şi opera sa, Bucharest, 1940
Documente istorice transilvane , Cluj, 1940
La Transilvania nel quadro geografico e nel ritmo storico rumeno, Bucharest, 1942
Zur Geschichte der Rumänen. Aufsätze und Vorträge, Sibiu, 1943
O carte de istorie bisericească ilustrată, Bucharest, 1933
Manual de istorie a românilor pentru clasa VIII-a secundară, Sibiu, 1944
Manual de istoria Bisericii Române pentru clasa a IV-a de liceu'', Craiova, 1944
