Papiu Ilarian was born in Bezded (Hungarian: Bezdédtelek), Kingdom of Hungary (today part of Gârbou, Romania) on 27 September 1827. His father was the Greek-catholic priest Ioan Bucur People’s, also a Romanian revolutionary, who was executed at Turda (Hungarian: Torda) by hanging, at 54 years old, by the Hungarian authorities in March 1849.
In 1832 he moved with his family to Budiu de Câmpie (Hungarian: Mezőbodon), near Târgu Mureş (Hungarian: Marosvásárhely), the native village of his father. where he attends the primary school. In the autumn of 1838 he enters the Catholic secondary school in Târgu Mureş. He finished high school in Cluj (Hungarian: Kolozsvár).
He was active in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.
He was elected to the Romanian Academy in 1868. He died in Sibiu (Hungarian: Nagyszeben) on 23 October 1877.
As member of the Bar in Bucharest, he pleaded in court the case of the oxcart drivers from Giurgiu, in 1873.
