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A Martyr in Romania

whenever someone sought advice from him, his answer would point out the crucial importance of our trust in the Holy Divine Providence: "Let’s pray together and ask that the Divine Providence shows us what is right to do, what is good to choose in the current situation." At the same time, he urged his interlocutors to pay maximum attention to the virtue of prudence: "Do not limit yourself to the first answer that you think Providence has given you. Never do that. Be prudent and wait for another clue – because the Providence will complete his answer with other signs." When the talk was about someone’s conversion, he asked, always, for actions without any delay. In these specific cases, he emphasized that such graces could be lost as unexpectedly as they had been received. In such situations any Catholic should strongly encourage the conversion of non-Catholics, without haste, but firmly. Evidently, such an attitude does not have any common point with post-Second Vatican Council ideologies like "ecumenism" and "interculturalism."

The culmination of Monsignor Vladimir Ghika’s life is represented by his death, on May 16, 1954, at the infirmary of the "Jilava" penitentiary. The last episode of his glorious life started with a firm refusal: to leave Romania on the royal train on January 3, 1948. This decision was made after an exchange of letters with Cardinal Jean Verdier, who agreed that the apostolate of the Monsignor would be much more fruitful in Romania under the communist rule. A few years later, in 1952, he was arrested under the accusation of undermining the communist regime. Consequently, he wholeheartedly obeyed Pope Pius XII’s request, who, in his apostolic letter

Veritatem facientes

(March 27, 1952), asked all Romanian Catholics not to betray their faith by breaking the links with the Holy See.

Once at the mercy of the communist authorities, Vladimir Ghika and his brethren of suffering experienced all the tortures imagined in the "red" prisons. As the few survivors confessed, the first step was to deprive the prisoners of the most basic living conditions. Any sort of minimal hygiene was forbidden, such draconic measures being aimed at the complete dehumanization of detainees. No wonder that many prisoners often gave up any form of resistance. Even though he was 79 years old, Vladimir Ghika was beaten without mercy and subjected to the most abominable tortures. After they discovered his fear of hanging, the executioners applied the so-called "electric hanging" on him no fewer than 83 times. The testimonies are unimaginable: "They took the Monsignor to the torture chamber and subjected him to the electric hanging. There were two ring halves that tighten your neck and lifted you up. For the old Monsignor Vladimir Ghika, however, a short circuit was constantly made, each time the rings tightening more and lifting him up. He was convinced that God would not let him die hanged because he had begged the Lord for it." After months of such atrocious tortures, his resolution to accept death from God’s hands became unshakeable. He was ready to accept even death by hanging...

Eager to defeat his moral resistance, the communists staged his execution by shooting – as narrated by the Greek Catholic priest Matei Boilă. But through such measures, the opposite effect was obtained: instead of weakening his spirit, the executioners gave him the opportunity to manifest the undefeated power of his supernatural Christian faith. After such a cruel episode the Monsignor himself said: "Just imagine how ridiculous and how obtuse these people were; they threatened me with the very thing that was my most arduous desire." Based on such serene statements, we can easily understand that, for him, death had ceased to be a terrifying threat, but only a gate to an infinitely better world.

The testimonials about Vladimir Ghika’s profound and divinely infused love are uncountable. Especially one of them reveals his apostolate in prison: "Every day, Monsignor Ghika recited the Holy Rosary together with a group of convicts. Every decade of Rosary was recited after a short meditation delivered by him. On some specific days, he led the way of the Cross. In that context, he expressed his whole tenderness, his deep affection for the Man of Sorrows – Jesus Christ. At the same time, he tried to encourage those who suffered by urging them to bear patiently everything out of love for Christ. The way of the Cross was the devotion which held together almost all the prisoners. On Sundays, he used to say some special prayers and to deliver sermons. (...) One Sunday, he talked about the value of suffering and about the Divine Providence. These are his own words: ‘We have a Father who loves us in Heaven, a Father who takes care of us and who seeks what is right for every one of us. If God has brought us here, that is because he wanted us to repent for our sins and to become holy, in order to emerge from here as better people.’ Everyone listened to him in holy tranquility."

According to the accounts of his last companions, the Monsignor Vladimir Ghika ceased to eat on May 13, 1954, when he also said – animated by the knowledge granted to him through a supernatural private revelation: "I will die in 4 days’ time". It was exactly as he prophesized.

Four days later, wrapped in a blanket, his holy body was taken out of the infirmary. No words could be more appropriate for the conclusion of an article dedicated to the noble and blessed Vladimir Ghika than the words in which all who knew him announced his death: "A saint is dead." ■