Vladimir Ghika


Vladimir Ghika or Ghica was a Romanian diplomat and essayist who, after his conversion from Romanian Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism, became a priest. He was a member of the princely Ghica family, which ruled Moldavia and Wallachia at various times from the 17th to the 19th century.
He died in prison in May 1954 after his arrest by the Communist regime.

Biography

Early life

Vladimir Ghika was born on Christmas Day of 1873 in Constantinople. His father was John Ghika, diplomat, minister plenipotentiary in Turkey ; his mother Alexandrina was born Moret de Blaremberg in a Flemish-Russian family ; he had four brothers and a sister: Gregory, Alexander, George and Ella, and Demetrius Ghika. He was the grandson of the last Prince sovereign of Moldavia, Prince Gregory V Ghika, who ruled from 1849–1856.
He was raised with the Orthodox faith. In 1878, in order to give a good education to the children, the family moved to Toulouse in France. There, they frequented the Protestant community, because the Orthodox church was not represented in the area. Ghika received his Degree in Law in 1895, after which he attended the Paris Faculty of Political Science. At the same time, he frequented courses of Medicine, Botany, Art, Literature, Philosophy, and History.
Ghika returned to Romania due to an attack of angina pectoris and continued his studies in Romania.
Ghika was an alumnus of the College of St. Thomas, the future Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas Angelicum, in Rome. In 1898, he enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology. At the Angelicum, Ghika completed a licentiate in Philosophy and a Doctorate in Theology in 1905. Soon after, he converted to the Catholic faith in 1902.

Pilgrimage

Ghika wanted to become a priest or monk, but Pius X advised him to give up the idea, at least for a while, and to dedicate himself to secular apostolate instead. He became one of the pioneers of the lay apostolate.
After returning to Romania, he dedicated himself to works of charity and opened the first free clinic in Bucharest called Mariae Bethlehem. He also set the foundation for a great hospital and sanatorium named after Saint Vincent de Paul, founded the first free hospital in Romania and the first ambulance, thereby becoming founder of the first Catholic charity work in Romania. He was dedicated to patient care while participating in health services in the Balkan War in 1913, without the fear of cholera in Zimnicea. He was also in charge of diplomatic missions among the Avezzano earthquake victims of tuberculosis of Hospice of Rome during World War I.
On 7 October 1923, Ghika was ordained a priest in Paris by Cardinal Dubois, Archbishop of the city. He served as a priest in France until 1939. Shortly after Ghika was ordained, the Holy See authorized him to celebrate the Byzantine Rite. Prince Ghika thereby became the first bi-ritual Romanian priest.
On 13 May 1931, the Pope appointed Ghika to be an Apostolic Protonotary, but he was reluctant to accept it. He worked worldwide, including Bucharest, Rome, Paris, Congo, Tokyo, Sydney, and Buenos Aires, among others. Later, in jest, Pope Pius XI called him an "apostolic vagabond".

Imprisonment and death

On 3 August 1939, he returned to Romania, where he was caught in the Second World War. He refused to leave Romania at that time so that he could be with the poor and sick. However, he left eventually for the same reason in Bucharest when they started Allied bombing. After the Communists came to power, he also refused to leave on the royal train, for the same reasons.
He was arrested on 18 November 1952, because of his support for the Catholic Church in communion with Rome and his opposition to the schismatic church that the regime was creating. He was charged for "high treason" and threatened, beaten, tortured and processed. Eventually, he was imprisoned at Jilava on 16 May, and he died in 1954 due to the treatment to which he was subjected.

Beatification

Monsignor Vladimir Ghika was proposed for beatification by Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest, based on a dossier with his biography, submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the Vatican. On 27 March 2013, Pope Francis declared Vladimir Ghika had been a martyr. He was beatified on 31 August 2013.

Education

Although he had culture and capacity, he avoided producing personal writings. He wrote only because he was forced by circumstances and needs. He did research work in the Vatican archives, publishing some of the results in the Revue Catolique. He also wrote magazine articles in Literary Talk, La Revue Hebdomadaire, Les Études, Le Correspondant, La Revue des Jeunes, and La Documentation Catholique. His short personal meditations were subsequently published in various editions as Pensées pour la suite des jours.

Writings published in French