Catholic, Martyr, Aristocrat:

A Letter from Romania

Monsignor Vladimir Ghika (1873 - 1954)

by Robert Lazu

Remnant Columnist | Romania

Editor’s Note: As The Remnant’s stable of writers continues to expand under the disastrous reign of Pope Francis, it occurred to me that it might be possible to have a member of the worldwide remnant in many different countries begin to contribute articles from their respective homelands, in the spirit of the great Michael Davies whose "Letter from London" appeared in these columns for thirty years. At this point, we have a number of promising leads, not the least of which is Dr.

Robert Lazu (PhD, Philosophy). Dr.

Lazu is a philosopher and writer born in Romania. He is descended from Polish and Ukrainian ancestors and is married to Laura. As is the case with your editor, Dr. and Mrs. Lazu have seven children. As a professional writer, Robert Lazu is author of Farmecul discret al teologiei [ The Discreet Charm of Theology], 2001, Exerciţii hermeneutice [ Hermeneutical Exercises], 2002, Lecturi catolice [ Catholical Lectures], 2004, Lumea lui Tolkien [ Tolkien’s World], 2004 and co-editor of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Credinţă şi imaginaţie [ J.R.R. Tolkien.

Faith and Imagination], 2005. He coordinated a massive Encyclopedia of Tolkien’s World (published in 2007). He has written over three hundred essays, articles and reviews published in Second Spring (UK), Radici Cristiane (Italy), Polonia Christiana (Poland), Ignatius Insight (USA), Dilema (Romania), Idei în Dialog (Romania), Adevarul literar si artistic (Romania), Altarul Banatului (Romania), Vatra (Romania), Orizont (Romania), Cultura (Romania), A Treia Europa (Iași-Timișoara), Dialog Teologic (Iași), Cronica (Iași), De West (Romania), Clouds Magazine (USA) etc. I am proud to welcome Dr. Lazu to our stable of writers, and I pray that God will bless our alliance with the Catholic ‘remnant of Romania’ for many years to come. Welcome aboard, Dr. Lazu.

MJM Nobility and Virtue After centuries of revolutionary egalitarian (i.e. Socialist and Communist) propaganda, the common mentality has embraced a completely distorted image of the members of ancient royal and aristocratic houses. Usually, this image – supported by scandals which have involved some of their descendants and, simultaneously, exposed them in many frivolous film adaptations – depicts royalty and aristocracy as being, more or less, synonymous with a decadent life, lived under the sign of the sweet poison of hedonism and perpetual power games. Even in the cases when a contemporary has a more favorable perspective on the aristocracy, they still fall in the trap summarized by Morton C. Blackwell as "most Americans are uncomfortable with the whole idea of nobility." Definitively, this is a truth which can be applied not just to Americans, but to every (post) modern citizen of the contemporary, democratic society.

The profound notion implied by the word "aristocracy" (from Ancient Greek aristokratia) is rarely grasped by our minds – involuntarily infected by historical revisionism – in its authentic, original meaning. Strictly etymologically speaking, the valence of this word is crystal clear and highly significant: "the power of the virtuous", "the power of the good". In other words, an aristocrat is a person who lives a virtuous life. This ideal is clearly expressed in both pagan – especially Greek and Roman – and Judeo-Christian cultures.

But the virtues can be practiced and cultivated in two distinct forms: either the ascetical and contemplative way of life, proper for priests and monks, or the chivalric way of life, specific for heroic knights – remarkable through their deeds of arms. In both cases, the virtuous person is strongly linked to a sort of loyalty that can culminate with self-sacrifice. Personalities like Socrates, John the Baptist, Saint Justin the Martyr and the Philosopher, or kings like Saint Louis IX of France or Blessed Charles I of Austria, are just a few of the innumerable examples that can be invoked. Consequently, we emphasize the fact that just the constant practice of a virtuous life can be considered the distinctive mark of nobility.

Descendant of a noble family who gave many sovereigns of Walachia and Moldavia, the Blessed Vladimir Ghika – who was the grandson of the last ruler of Moldavia, Prince Gregory V Ghika – is one of those exemplary persons who can teach us the true meaning of "aristocracy."

The Story of a Conversion

Born in Constantinople, in 1873, under the Ottoman rule, Vladimir Ghika studied in France, where he attended courses in Medicine, Political Science and "Beaux-Arts", Philosophy and History. From the period of his academic education, between 1890-1900, he read Catholic theology and, in a way similar with famous converts like Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890) and Vladimir Solovyov (1853-1900), he converted to Catholicism without being under the direct influence of a Catholic personality. After his public profession of faith, made in 1902 in the presence of Cardinal Frühwirth, Father Lepidi O.P. and Father Emmanuel Bailly, he explained to his relatives and friends that he had chosen to become Catholic just to be "more Orthodox." Guided by his spiritual father, Cardinal Vivès, he studied – between 1898 and 1905 – Philosophy and Theology at Angelicum, in Rome. After he had completed his intellectual training, in 1905 he gained a PhD in Theology.

He was consecrated as a priest on October 7, 1923, by Cardinal Dubois. He received faculties as a bi-ritual priest, which made him able to celebrate both the Tridentine Liturgy and the Eastern Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. This was the direct result of the desire expressed by Pope Leo XIII, who was aware that Vladimir Ghika was eager to celebrate the Tridentine mass as a priest. After his consecration, he established the "Association of brothers and sisters of Saint John", devoting himself to serving the poor people from the suburbs of Paris. As a particular note, we have to mention the fact that, in 1903, he created a personal rule of life based on Franciscan and Dominican rules, which he had been familiar with as a tertiary of both mendicant orders.

The Spirituality of a Visionary Man

The conversion of Vladimir Ghika was accompanied by extraordinary gifts. One of these was his unique capacity to "read" a man’s spiritual and moral condition in his eyes. As some of his close disciples confessed, he was often heard murmuring to himself some mysterious utterances like: "This man has good eyes," or "No. That one does not have good eyes." One day, when he was questioned by a close friend about the meaning of such sentences, he answered: "Every time I am with a person in a state of mortal sin I can see – instead of his eyes – two wide black holes. You cannot imagine how painful such an experience is for me. To have right in front of you a soul who, if the man dies the next moment, will be condemned for eternity." Thus, we can discover here the main source of this nobleman’s extraordinary apostolic zeal: his fear of eternal punishment, sustained by a strong belief in "the unseen world" and a profound love for the revealed truths of Christian faith.

Like in the case of all saints – among whom Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori with his meditations on the "last things" is one of the most prominent – for Vladimir Ghika, the crucial foundation of his apostolic mission was represented by his personal conviction that the spiritual, unseen world is much more real and important than our visible, evanescent, passing world.

Another specific trait of his Catholic spirituality was, undoubtedly, the privileged place granted by him to the theological doctrine of Divine Providence. Without exception,

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Prince Ghika at Paray-le-Monial, holding up the Sacred Heart banner of Roman Catholicism in Romania (1917)