Orthodox Reflections

For all Akathists published on our site, click here. This Akathist was contributed by Maxim, who kindly asks all Orthodox Christians to keep him in their prayers for his repentance. See bottom for original source. Click here for more Akathastist to National and Modern Martyrs.

The stories of the Holy Martyrs Ecaterina Gata, Nicoleta Nicolescu and other Romanian modern saints are below immediately following the Akathist. Click here to go directly to the stories of the saints. 

Akathist to the Prison Saints of Romania written at the request of Elder Justin Pârvu

The New Martyrs and Confessors of the Romanian Prisons

Feast Day: 14 May

The Troparion of the Prison Saints of Romania, 1st Tone:
The true confessors of Christ hath bravely withstood the wiles of the devil, and neither persecution, nor prison, nor tortures, nor chains couldst frighten them, but with power from on High, hath they guarded the faith and the Romanian Land. By their prayers, Christ our God, save Thou our souls.

1st Hymn on the Scroll (Kontakion):
The chosen Confessors of Christ and adornment of the Church, those who endured torture and mockery in prison, the true soldiers of the Lord who put the servants of Satan to shame by the power of the Cross, in heaven do they pray for us, for which we, desiring to praise them, say: Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

1st Stanza (Ikos):
From the icon and the altar did the Holy Confessors set out to defend the true faith and the Romanian multitude from the scourge coming from the East, who were frightened neither by persecution nor imprisonment but boldly stood against the machinations of Satan, for which we rejoice and praise in such hymns as these:

Rejoice, O souls as pure as the lilies.
Rejoice, O imprisoned yet left undefiled.
Rejoice, O ye willing to break the chains of the nation.
Rejoice, O foundation of the nation with martyric blood.
Rejoice, O ye persecuted by the enemies of Christ.
Rejoice, O ye tortured by the traitors.
Rejoice, ye who were crushed and yet rose again.
Rejoice, for by the vision of death hath ye been strengthened.
Rejoice, for the life of prayer and weeping.
Rejoice, O ye whole-burnt offerings.
Rejoice, for the gift of the Archangel’s cover and help.
Rejoice, for the preservation by the power of the honorable Cross.
Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

2nd Hymn on the Scroll:
The Red Beast of Anger set out against the Church of Christ, and the whole world was horrified by its terrible iniquities: the icons were trampled underfoot, the relics of the saints mocked, the priests killed, and many Churches demolished; and, O Saints, not wanting to leave us a country without altars and Crosses, manfully hath ye resisted the wicked, singing to God: Hallelujah!

2nd Stanza:
The Christian settlement of the world was shaking and the terrible powers of darkness were foaming, and the soldiers of Christ with brave hearts, not enduring such things, set off quickly towards Bloody Spain where they joyfully accepted the death of martyrs; and, O Saints, a covenant hath ye made on their grave to fight the good fight for the salvation of the nation, for which we gratefully offer such praises as these:

Rejoice, defenders of Romania.
Rejoice, worthy sons of the ancestral land.
Rejoice, for two young men were living examples to us all.
Rejoice, for they departed to a blessed death.
Rejoice, for the vows made at their graves.
Rejoice, for the vow of poverty.
Rejoice, for the renunciation of worldly cares.
Rejoice, for the resolve to guard the nation.
Rejoice, for the climb atop the mountains of suffering.
Rejoice, for the endurance in elder age.
Rejoice, for the spiritual fulfillment of the nation.
Rejoice, for the pain that hath borne fruit a hundredfold.
Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

3rd Hymn on the Scroll:
The enemies of the Cross and the betrayers of the nation wanted to tear the Romanian soul from Christ, but then arose a new valiant defender with the soul of an Archangel, who laid down his life for the ancestral law, saying: “He who fights, even alone, for God and his people, will never be defeated;” and now, victorious, with the angels in heaven, he unceasingly sings: Hallelujah!

3rd Stanza:
The murderous tyrant and the wicked internationalists, unable to bear to see pure souls burning with love for faith and nation, gave a diabolical order, that ye be taken to the forest at night and strangled, then riddled with bullets, thrown into a pit, burned with vitriol, and crushed with stone slabs, but neither the grave nor death could hold they who grasped True Life, for which cause we sing such things as these:

Rejoice, for the tears shed on the face of the nation.
Rejoice, for the great trials of your souls.
Rejoice, for the knowledge of death to come.
Rejoice, for the peaceful departure from all others.
Rejoice, for ye hath been confined in the darkness of the woods.
Rejoice, for the chains that shackled your feet.
Rejoice, for the ropes that were stretched around your necks.
Rejoice, for ye hath been crowned by these malicious deaths.
Rejoice, for the sufferings endured in the iconostasis of the nation.
Rejoice, for the Princes arose from the graves.
Rejoice, for, like the trembling Horea, hath ye been mangled.
Rejoice, for, like the betrayed Tudor, hath ye terrified the torturers.
Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

4th Hymn on the Scroll:
The servants of Satan were frightened by steadfastness and faith, O Saints, and, thinking that ye be destroyed, angrily hath they campaigned in the Prisons of Sărat, Siyuk, Brashov, and Vaslui, and on the terrifying “night of vengeance” the crowns martyrdom were ye bestowed, singing to God: Hallelujah!

4th Stanza:
Fearless were ye of their lawless plans, O Brave Confessors, but understanding the approach of death, all knelt in the courtyard of the camp and, in the silence of the night, humbly recited the Lord’s Prayer, then the bullets began to rain down, while an imprisoned priest secretly performed the last service for those who would die, for which we offer praises as these:

Rejoice, for with Christ hath ye died.
Rejoice, for a sacrifice hath ye become for the nation.
Rejoice, for the executioners marveled at the sight.
Rejoice, for they were conquered by the strength of such faith.
Rejoice, for the bullets rained without mercy.
Rejoice, for pain hath lost its dominion.
Rejoice, for the bodies were left at the crossroads.
Rejoice, for without graves hath ye been abandoned by the persecutors.
Rejoice, for the humiliation suffered even after death.
Rejoice, for the slanderous name of “traitors.”
Rejoice, O Sons of a Crucified Nation.
Rejoice, for through pain hath ye been sanctified.
Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

5th Hymn on the Scroll:
Satan himself descended to destroy you, O Holy Confessors, in the terrible Prison of Piteshti, and the demonic executioner of souls cried out: “If Christ had passed through my hands, He would not have reached the Cross and would not have risen,” followed by greater blasphemies and insults, and, O Saints, with no hope of salvation except from God hath ye cried out to Him with tears: Hallelujah!

5th Stanza:
The angels in heaven hid their faces, unable to bear such God-hating madness, because on Good Friday, in mockery, they crucified a young man on the wall and killed him with savage blows. The walls of the prison trembled from the tortured screams, the pits swallowed hungry piles of crushed flesh and blood, but in the depths of hell, God hath empowered and strengthened ye, for which we sing such praises as these:

Rejoice, O much-suffering martyrs.
Rejoice, for beasts hath struck in human form.
Rejoice, for the blows to the head with sharp stakes.
Rejoice, for the fingers broken with pliers.
Rejoice, for the hateful trampling hath become a crown.
Rejoice, for ye hath been humiliated while kneeling for food.
Rejoice, for ye hath been made to eat salt alone.
Rejoice, for ye hath been deprived of water for days at a time.
Rejoice, for ye hath endured pains beyond nature.
Rejoice, for ye hath resembled the Great Martyrs.
Rejoice, for ye hath terribly suffered in the body.
Rejoice, for the soil of more prosperous souls hath borne fruit.
Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

6th Hymn on the Scroll:
The hired murderers from the prison of Aiyud thought hide the memory of the Saints by throwing the much-suffering bodies into the ravine of the “Hill of Slaves,” not knowing the power of God shown in the vision of the Prophet Ezekiel, who says: “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and he said unto me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, thou knowest.’ Again he said unto me, ‘Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live!’ and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army,” which continually praised God, singing to Him: Hallelujah!

6th Stanza:
The prison of Aiyud was a place of prayer, for there was spent much time in constant fasting and vigil, the vigilance of mind and humility of heart hath ye acquired, learning the Divine Scriptures, and at night, kneeling with tears, for the dead hath ye prayed and for the persecutors, for which we sing such praises as these:

Rejoice, O Holy Crown Bearers.
Rejoice, for ye hath fought the good fight.
Rejoice, for ye hath endured a double battle.
Rejoice, for ye hath subdued the passions.
Rejoice, for ye hath faced even the executioners.
Rejoice, for they thought to destroy the elect.
Rejoice, for ye hath been struck and spat upon.
Rejoice, for each limb hath been beaten and crushed.
Rejoice, for ye hath stood in frozen cells.
Rejoice, for ye hath suffered in freezing water.
Rejoice, for ye hath patiently endured every trial.
Rejoice, for ye hath strength and power from above.
Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

7th Hymn on the Scroll:
The Savior’s words: “brother shall betray the brother to death” they wanted to fulfill in the prison of Gherla, for the demon-possessed executioners with hatred turned the prisoners on one another, and, calling a father, they forced him to trample his child, and he fell to his knees and cried out: “Kill me, but do not torture my boy!;” and, understanding the madness of Satan, hath ye prayed saying: “Lord, give us strength to endure or take us from here!,” crying out to God: Hallelujah!

7th Stanza:
No man’s mind can comprehend the cruelty of the torments ye hath endured, O Saints, for crucified were ye on the floor, beaten with wet ropes, fingers crushed with pliers, and boards hit across the face, that ye no longer bore the face of men, but, following Christ the Crucified, suffered everything hath ye and forgiven the executioners, for which sing such praises as these:

Rejoice, O bodies crushed in torment.
Rejoice, O souls purified in fire.
Rejoice, for Satan sifted the wheat.
Rejoice, for faith becamest a weapon.
Rejoice, for ye hath endured to the end.
Rejoice, for Christ hath given ye strength.
Rejoice, for ye hath suffered much.
Rejoice, for the death in which ye bore an enlightened countenance.
Rejoice, for snow flowers fell on your grave.
Rejoice, for unseen angels wept at the sight.
Rejoice, for the climb atop the mountains of pain.
Rejoice, for to the Lord hath ye been received.
Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

8th Hymn on the Scroll:
A fraction of such sufferings hath not been endured even by the Israelites enslaved in Egypt, O Holy Confessors, for not with labor to crush stones and bricks hath ye exerted, but rather to move mountains of earth from their places with exhausted arms, and and a bed of tears and blood hath ye carved that all the waters of the Danube will not be able to wash away, for such suffering voices ever rise to heaven, crying out to God: Hallelujah!

8th Stanza:
The waters gave voice, and the depths of the terrible Canal trembled, for there are no words that are not heard and no pains that do not gnaw; and we, O Saints, hearing the voice of such passion from the depths, pray ye such things as these:

Rejoice, O souls strong as the ancient mountains.
Rejoice, O trees shaken by the storms.
Rejoice, for in heat and frost hath ye toiled.
Rejoice, for the earth hath ye sanctified with blood.
Rejoice, for naked and hungry hath ye struggled.
Rejoice, for with tears hath ye carved through the rocks.
Rejoice, for with sweat hath ye made a path through the stone.
Rejoice, for as payment, hath ye received beatings.
Rejoice, for scattered hath ye been beneath the waves.
Rejoice, for beneath the mud and sand hath ye rested.
Rejoice, for the exhausted body hath been crushed.
Rejoice, for the stronger soul hath borne fruit.
Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

9th Hymn on the Scroll:
Light dawned in the Prison of Suffering from Târgu Ocna, for the Saint of Romanian Prisons shone like a sun within it, serene in soul and face, the comfort of the suffering and the praise of the ascetics, the one who spent his time in vigilance and prayer of the heart, the gift of the Holy Ghost agonized, and knowing his end in advance, moved to the Lord with joy, singing: Hallelujah!

9th Stanza:
“Love them that persecute you,” Christ commanded, and, O Saints, ye hath fulfilled His word exactly, for in Târgu Ocna, on the night of the Nativity of the Lord, a dying priest asked to be taken to the one who had terribly tormented him, and comforting him with gentleness, he said to him: “I forgive you with all my heart and I believe that Christ, Who is better than us, will forgive you too.” That one, repenting, confessed with tears, and that same night they both went to the Lord in peace, and we, marveling at the power of love, sing such praises as these:

Rejoice, O followers of the divine commandments.
Rejoice, O zealots for heavenly glory.
Rejoice, for ye hath received the Jesus Prayer.
Rejoice, for the gift of the Holy Ghost hath overshadowed you.
Rejoice, for ye hath the Gospel as a guide.
Rejoice, for ye hath found enlightenment and grace.
Rejoice, for the sun has shone in darkness.
Rejoice, for the “Saint of the Prisons.”
Rejoice, for he hath overcome pain and torment.
Rejoice, for his soul was white as a lily.
Rejoice, for they threw him into an unknown grave.
Rejoice, for the sky hath wrapped him in a shroud of snow.
Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

10th Hymn on the Scroll:
The enemies of Christ wanted not only to crush the body and soul, but also to mock the true faith, therefore, on the Holy Feasts of Orthodoxy, they forced blasphemies of from ye that the human mind cannot imagine, and, O Saints, enduring humiliation and torments, ye hath asked for God’s help, being strengthened and crying aloud: Hallelujah!

 10th Stanza:
The joy of the Resurrection shone in the dark mine at Baiya Spriye, when, in the bowels of the earth, the priests imprisoned by the earthquake cried out: “Come and take light!” and the bell-shaped drills began to resound, the lamps were lit and the condemned, kneeling with tears, sang “Christ is risen!,” for which things we marvel with such praises as these:

Rejoice, O who were buried alive.
Rejoice, for ye hath not denied Christ.
Rejoice, for in mockery, they gave ye meat on Holy Friday.
Rejoice, for enduring hunger was better than food.
Rejoice, for the Resurrection was celebrated in the depths.
Rejoice, for fasting and confession hath brought purification.
Rejoice, for ye hath raised a Cross of metal beams.
Rejoice, for the drills rang in the form of bells.
Rejoice, for expensive chambers were absent.
Rejoice, for a white linen became a stole.
Rejoice, for the liturgy was served with the angels.
Rejoice, for Christ was confessed under the earth.
Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

11th Hymn on the Scroll:
The complete persecution unleashed with anger spared not even the frail women, and, just like the martyrs of old, many women boldly confessed their love for Christ and their people and endured the torments with joy, singing to God: Hallelujah!

11th Stanza:
The believers were horrified to see a tortured body of a woman brought to be burned, and the stone-hearted executioners, not taking into account that there was still life within, hastily threw the body into the furnace and muffled wails resounded from the flames, and we, trembling at such things, sing with fear:

Rejoice, O frail bodies with firmness of soul.
Rejoice, for ye hath boldly confessed Christ.
Rejoice, for ye hath imitated the martyrs of old.
Rejoice, for ye hath all kinds of torments.
Rejoice, for ye hath received beatings and mockery.
Rejoice, for ye hath been terribly tortured by hanging.
Rejoice, for they have given ye to bullets.
Rejoice, for the hands of the soldiers trembled on their weapons.
Rejoice, for ye hath been beaten to the point of blood.
Rejoice, for they could not do the same to the soul.
Rejoice with the Saints of this persecuted nation.
Rejoice, all ye who hath died in the faith.
Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

12th Hymn on the Scroll:
With divine grace hath ye miraculously been overshadowed, O Saints, and in the Prisons of Piteshti, Aiyud, Gherla, Sighet, Baiya Spriye, Târgu Ocna and the Canal, like the martyrs of old, many kinds of sufferings hath ye endured, and, knowing well that this was a trial from above, ye hath called upon Christ more fervently, singing: Hallelujah!

12th Stanza:
This earthly life was counted as nothing; the soul hath been offered up for the true faith and ancestral people, and now. at the haven free from pain and sorrow, ye rejoice, with all the righteous praising God and hearing from us such things as these:

Rejoice, O wings that hath taken flight.
Rejoice, O illuminated faces of grace.
Rejoice, O lives that hath broken the chains.
Rejoice, O ye who were hated by the world.
Rejoice, O rays of light kindled in darkness.
Rejoice, O arms stretched to the heavens.
Rejoice, O bearers of the Cross and Name of Saints.
Rejoice, O temples aglow with illustrious crowns.
Rejoice, O rivers of clean waters.
Rejoice, O branches laden with fruit.
Rejoice, O messengers proclaiming the good news.
Rejoice, O foundation of the rock of the nation.
Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

13th Hymn on the Scroll:
O Holy Confessors, who endured all tortures in prison, who bravely accepted martyrdom for the Resurrection of the Romanian soul, with boldness towards Christ our God, pray that we may be delivered from all devilish deceit and may manfully confess the Orthodox faith, so that, having been saved, we may sing always to God: Hallelujah!

O Holy Confessors, who endured all tortures in prison, who bravely accepted martyrdom for the Resurrection of the Romanian soul, with boldness towards Christ our God, pray that we may be delivered from all devilish deceit and may manfully confess the Orthodox faith, so that, having been saved, we may sing always to God: Hallelujah!

O Holy Confessors, who endured all tortures in prison, who bravely accepted martyrdom for the Resurrection of the Romanian soul, with boldness towards Christ our God, pray that we may be delivered from all devilish deceit and may manfully confess the Orthodox faith, so that, having been saved, we may sing always to God: Hallelujah!

1st Stanza:
From the icon and the altar did the Holy Confessors set out to defend the true faith and the Romanian multitude from the scourge coming from the East, who were frightened neither by persecution nor imprisonment but boldly stood against the machinations of Satan, for which we rejoice and praise in such hymns as these:

Rejoice, O souls as pure as the lilies.
Rejoice, O imprisoned yet left undefiled.
Rejoice, O ye willing to break the chains of the nation.
Rejoice, O foundation of the nation with martyric blood.
Rejoice, O ye persecuted by the enemies of Christ.
Rejoice, O ye tortured by the traitors.
Rejoice, ye who were crushed and yet rose again.
Rejoice, for by the vision of death hath ye been strengthened.
Rejoice, for the life of prayer and weeping.
Rejoice, O ye whole-burnt offerings.
Rejoice, for the gift of the Archangel’s cover and help.
Rejoice, for the preservation by the power of the honorable Cross.
Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

1st Hymn on the Scroll:
The chosen Confessors of Christ and adornment of the Church, those who endured torture and mockery in prison, the true soldiers of the Lord who put the servants of Satan to shame by the power of the Cross, in heaven do they pray for us, for which we, desiring to praise them, say: Rejoice, O Holy Confessors, who, in the prisons, ascended the Golgotha ​​of Romania!

++++Here endeth the hymn.++++

A Prayer to the New Confessors of the Romanian Prisons:
O Holy Confessors, who in prisons and persecutions, through many sufferings, have restrained the incitement of the enemy, which was directed with anger against the Church of Christ to all who have suffered hunger, cold, torture, humiliation, and torments of all kinds in defense of the ancient law, we offer our thanksgiving.

As those who have done well for the Resurrection of the Soul of Romania, and now rejoice with the angels and archangels in the unsettling light of the Heavenly Kingdom, we ask: cease not the intercession to the Almighty God that He may grant us forgiveness of sins, that He may protect us and His Holy Church from foreign invasions, and that He may preserve us from unbelief and the war between us.

Guide us always on the path of salvation, patience, and love that we may remain steadfast and united until the end of our lives in the true faith. O Holy Confessors, who in the trials and struggles of earthly life asked for the help of the Heavenly Powers, we unworthy ones pray ye to receive our prayers at this hour and cover us from the scandals of this generation and the evils of our adversaries as we fearlessly confess the Gospel of Christ on the narrow path with many torments to the glory of God and the salvation of our people.

Amen.

Another Prayer to the New Martyrs and Confessors:
Holy New Martyrs and Confessors, pray to God for us in these times of great trial. Take care of all the clergy and faithful. Do not allow the enemy of our salvation to overwhelm the soil of our souls through errors and passions of all kinds. Help us to make, again and again, a good beginning to our salvation.

Guide us on the path of salvation, instructing us through our spiritual fathers. Support those who desire to reject the wisdom of this world and acquire true wisdom. Strengthen those who, out of fear, avoid bearing witness. Raise those who have fallen into the pit of sins. Ease the sufferings of the sick and give what is needful to those in great need.

All ye saints, who have endured hunger, thirst, cold, heat, nakedness, have received from God the gift of comforting those in all kinds of need. We desire your deeds in our lives, we wish to witness your miraculous intercession. Soften those who still persecute you, appease those who still slander you. Pray to God that the witness of your zeal and holiness will spread everywhere. Strengthen us, O saints, to follow in your footsteps so that we may truly be the followers of your prayers.

Help us to depict your icons in our hearts and to praise you until the last hour of our lives, glorifying God in the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and ever and unto ages of ages.

Amen.

A Prayer for the Glorification of the New Martyrs of the Prisons:
O Lord, our God, who didst keep Daniel and the Three Youths safe in the furnace of fire, and who hast strengthened the witnesses of the last persecution to bear good testimony before the persecutors, receive this little prayer from us.

Sow, O Christ God, their sacrifice as a seed in the soil of our hearts. May this seed bring forth good fruit, may it be unto us a good beginning of salvation, and may it bestow upon us the courage to confess the truth in the face of those who mock it. Grant, O Lord, that their example may not be forgotten, but rather that the most just sons of the Church may be nourished by it. Grant thou that their virtues and sacrifice may be a rebuke to our idleness and neglect and that we may receive this rebuke for our correction.

Saint Mary Magdalene once asked for thy body, saying to the Gardener, “Lord, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away.” In like manner do we fall before Thee, praying before Thee in the hope that Thou wilt forgive our boldness and shall not overlook our request: “Lord, show us where the holy relics of Thy confessors are, that when we find them, we may honor them with piety.” If it be our sins that doth withhold us from being worthy to venerate them, we beseech Thee, O Lord, with broken and humbled hearts, that Thou, O Lord, shall not let the holy relics of Thy servants be forgotten, but bring them to light, that they may receive the honor due to them.

Grant that, venerating them with piety, we may also enjoy their honor in Thy Church together with the hosts of the martyrs, as is their due. With them, O Triune God, may we bring glory, honor, and worship unto Thee, to the Father and the Son and to the Holy Ghost, now and ever and unto ages of ages.

Amen!

 Original Akathist: https://manastirea.petru-voda.ro/2015/11/29/acatistul-sfintilor-mucenici-romani-din-inchisori/

NOTES:

1. This Akathist Hymn was composed at the request of Elder Justin Pârvu and it is prayed in Romanian Churches.
2. The Second Ikos refers to Ion Moța and Vasile Marin, who were martyred in Spain during the Spanish Civil War on the same day. In the words of Ion Moța himself: “A machine gun was being fired in the cheek of Christ! The Christian world was shaking! Could we stand by? I understood the duty of my life. I loved Christ and went happily to my death for Him! (…) Let us not let our descendants lose the soulful blessings of the Birth of the Redeemer! Let us not leave a country without churches, without icons, without the protection of the hand of God! Let us not leave our children a life in which they will have lost Christ!”

New Martyrs Ion Moța and Vasile Marin

3. The “Saint of the Romanian Prisons” referred to in Kontakion 9 is Saint Valerius Gafencu.

New Martyr and Confessor Valerius Gafencu, The Prison Saint of Romania (18 Feb)

4. The woman referred to in the 11th Stanza is the Blessed Nicoleta Nicolescu. She was tortured, raped and then cremated while still alive. Her story is told below.

New Martyr Nicoleta Nicolescu, Legionary Commander of the Women’s Stronghold

5. You can read about all Romanian Martyrs and Confessors of the 20th Century here.
6. The Feast Day of the Prison Saints of Romania is 14 May because the communists arrested 10,000 people on that night.

Holy Martyrs Ecaterina Gata, Nicoleta Nicolescu and More Romanian Martyrs

The Martyrdom of Ecaterina Gata

Ecaterina (Titi) Gâţă, the underground leader of the Legionary Movement’s organization for girls and women who spat on Ana Pauker. Ecaterina Gata was arrested in December 1938 and sent to the women’s camp at Sadaclia, in Bessarabia, along with other women, including Princess Ioana Cantacuzino, and was released in the spring of 1940. She was tortured to death at Malmaison and cremated on April 9, 1949.

The Carlist Persecution. Monasteries Turned into Prisons

In 1938, Carol II established a royal dictatorship and launched a veritable witch hunt against the Legionnaires, imprisoning and assassinating dozens of leaders of the movement as well as other opponents of the regime.

In this context, a series of camps were opened within monasteries—Tismana, Dragomirna, Suzana, Sadaclia—or in former military units or state institutions—Vaslui, Miercurea Ciuc.

Patriarch Miron Cristea, who was also Prime Minister at the time, played a significant role in this, effectively dismantling the monastic communities of these monasteries and halting liturgical activities. Thus, the head of the Romanian Orthodox Church (the same man who, before 1918, had vowed to crack the skull of the first Romanian soldier who crossed the Carpathians to liberate Transylvania with his episcopal staff) had far outpaced the communists and Nicolae Ceausescu in the dissolution of monasteries and the persecution of monks.

The camp was set up on the grounds of the Sadaclia Hermitage; the monks’ quarters were thus taken over by the prisoners.

The entire complex was surrounded by barbed wire, security was strict, food was almost nonexistent (beet soup), and sleep was constantly interrupted by alarm bells that the sentries changed every five minutes. The female prisoners were not allowed to enter the monastery’s church.

Only girls were imprisoned at Sadaclia, and the Carlist regime exerted constant pressure on them to break away from the Movement and join the organizations recently created by Carol II. The girls, however, firmly rejected the interrogators: “No statement, no compromise.” They were not released until the spring of 1940.

With the establishment of the National Legionary State, she returned to Bucharest; she enrolled in college and began organizing the student unions, of which she was a leader. After General Antonescu’s coup d’état, a new wave of persecution followed.

She crossed the border illegally twice to visit comrades in exile, but her third attempt would lead to her arrest.

With the Legionnaires’ rise to power, she returned to Bucharest, enrolled in college, and began organizing the “cetăți” (youth groups), of which she was a leader. After General Ion Antonescu’s coup d’état, a new wave of persecution began. She crossed the border clandestinely twice to join her comrades in exile, but her third attempt would lead to her arrest.

Attacked by the very guide she had paid to take her across the border, who attempted to rape her, Titi defended herself by fighting the guide until he pulled out a knife and slashed her arm. Her screams alerted the border guards, and both she and her attacker ended up in police custody.

Father Arsenie had given her his blessing to enter monastic life as soon as things became clear.

Titi was the first to start work and the last to finish. She treated the girls with great kindness. If she thought one of them was tired or not feeling well, she would go to her immediately. She would take the tired girl out of work for an hour or two, and for the one who seemed ill, she would call a doctor, care for her, and watch over her personally.

Despite communist oppression, Titi managed to organize a work camp with her girls at the Vladimiresti Monastery to build the monastery’s cells. At the Vladimiresti Monastery was Marieta Iordache—Mother Mihaela, the one who had handed over the leadership of the Fortresses (the Female Wing of the Iron Guard) to Ecaterina in 1942.

Titi took part in all three shifts, working without interruption, day after day. The girls made bricks by kneading the clay with their feet; Titi was the first to start work and the last to finish. She treated the girls with great understanding. If she thought one was tired or not feeling well, she would go to her immediately. She would take the tired one out of work for an hour or two, and for the one she thought was sick, she would call a doctor, care for her, and watch over her personally.

In the morning, the girls would knead the clay, then pour it into molds and turn them over to dry. During morning prayer, they would continue working, silently reciting the prayer of the heart: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” There was a break for lunch, when they talked, joked, rested a little, and then work resumed with kneading clay and molding bricks until dinner.

After dinner, everyone gathered together. Then came the stories and advice given by Mother Mihaela and Titi. This is how the evenings unfolded until after midnight.

Ecaterina Gata was passionate about history, which is why she went daily to the Central University Library, where she would immerse herself in study for hours on end.

In 1944, during the German bombings of August 24–27, the library sustained severe damage, and the fire completed the destruction. At that time, she became involved in the effort to save the books from the University Library, which was engulfed in flames.

Ecaterina’s advisor and spiritual father was Father Arsenie Boca, who at that time was at Sâmbătă de Sus in the Brâncoveanu Monastery. The young woman visited him very often, consulting him on the decisions she made regarding her activities. Although she had many suitors, Titi turned them down because she had chosen a different path since childhood: monasticism.

In 1948, she was preparing to cross the border once again to go into exile. This time, she was arrested by agents in the reading room of the Academy Library. She had her passport and everything she needed for her departure in her purse, but she did not take her purse with her when she left the reading room. A student, thinking she had forgotten it, ran after her and gave it to her. Thus, the evidence fell into the hands of the Security Service.

Ecaterina Gâţă was taken to the Malmaison prison on Calea Plevnei. Since she was the commander of the Citadels, Ana Pauker became directly involved in the investigation, attempting to make Titi betray her cause by promising her freedom. Ecaterina Gâţă ended the conversation with Pauker by spitting on her. With this gesture, she hastened her own end. The ingrate task was carried out by Vasile Bulz. After Major Bulz tied her up, he brutally beat her, mutilated her breasts with pliers, raped her, then inserted a piece of iron into her vagina, and finally killed her. On April 9, 1949, her brother, who had returned from the front, was summoned and taken to a cell where Titi was found hanging by her own cord.

Her brother saw finger marks around her neck. The shock was so great that he ran away. Ecaterina was likely thrown into a mass grave or ended up in the crematorium.

The Securitate promoted the idea that the Legionary leader had committed suicide, a theory shattered by Aspazia Oţel Petrescu’s testimony: “Titi Gâţă’s suicide was staged. Her mother was summoned to identify the body so it could be handed over for burial. She didn’t have the strength to go and sent her son instead. When he entered and found her, the first thing he did was look at her neck. There was no sign of a noose; there were finger marks where she had been strangled. He was so terrified that he ran away. He came to his mother, sobbing uncontrollably, and told her: “Mother, she didn’t hang herself—she was murdered! She is not lost to the Lord, but a martyr!”

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The Martyrdom of Nicoleta Nicolescu 

LEGIONARY NICOLETA NICOLESCU – tortured, raped, and then burned alive at the crematorium in Bucharest

Nicoleta Nicolescu (b. 1912, Craiova, Dolj County, Kingdom of Romania – d. July 10, 1939, Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania) was a prominent member of the Legionary Movement, holding the rank of Legionary Commander and serving as head of the Girls’ Citadels (the Legionary women’s organizations, the equivalent of the “nests” whose members were exclusively male) from 1933, when they were founded, until 1936, when she was promoted to the position of advisor to Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

Nicoleta Nicolescu began her university studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Bucharest in 1930, joining the Legionary Movement that same year. In 1933, she was appointed by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu to lead the Cetăţuile, the women’s section of the Legionary Movement, a minority group within the Legion (in 1937, of the 487,000 members, only 8% were women).

Nicolescu remained at the helm of the Cetăţuilor until 1936, when she was promoted to the position of advisor to Captain Corneliu Zelea Codreanu; leadership of the Cetăţuilor was then taken over by Legionary commander Lucia Trandafir, though Nicolescu continued to serve in an advisory capacity to her.

She was arrested at the end of 1938, along with other members of the Legionary organization, without any specific charges being brought against her. She was tortured and murdered by the authorities; her body was then cremated, and her ashes buried in an unmarked grave.

 How the commander of the Legionary Girls’ Fortresses was murdered (see “The Martyrs Watch Over Us from Heaven” by Nicolae Niţă). Tortured, raped, and then roused from unconsciousness and brought to her senses, Nicoleta was thrown into the flames of the crematorium…

Arrested along with many other comrades from the Legionary Girls’ Corps in 1938, she had been tortured in the basements of the Capital Police Prefecture for months on end, in the cruelest manner. The wheel of death turned relentlessly; tragic news arrived from across the country about those martyred in their faith on the path to the Archangels.

And, one day in July, the news of Nicoleta’s murder and the cruelties she had endured in the final moments of her life spread like lightning throughout the entire Romanian nation. The secret of this tragedy could not be kept. Even the brutal murderers trembled at the invincible zeal of Nicoleta’s faith. In a cell in the basement of the Prefecture, her bones shattered, her chest savagely cut open to hasten her death, the heroine fiercely confronted her jailers and torturers, refusing to die quickly, as they had hoped. She was still breathing, and the black bandit knives, with their thick blades, were tearing apart her body, stubbornly clinging to this life, stubbornly continuing to breathe, until the very last drop of life. A Dantesque image that terrified even the most ferocious guards… Then thrown onto the floor of a van, among the shovels and pickaxes used to bury other young lives in the Pantelimon Forest, she had been transported to the Crematorium.

– She’s not dying! She’s not dying!… She doesn’t want to die!…

Behind the crematorium, the car stopped. Somewhere to the right, a back door leading into the compound. The mechanic on duty, Ion Cerchez, opened it:

– The paperwork…

– What paperwork? – one of the agents cut him off sharply. We don’t need that to take her… Get lost…

– Yes, but you know, the body has to be registered…

– It’s been handled by the Prefecture’s delegates: State Security. We know what needs to be done… Get out of here…

Faced with the “state” authorities, the driver threw the door wide open and stepped aside, letting the two assassins—whether they wanted to or not—step inside: Pavel Patriciu, Commissioner of the Bucharest Police Prefecture, and Agent Iuliu Horvath.

The bag hung heavy… Stained red with the victim’s blood, they carefully grabbed it by the corners, so as not to get dirty, and entered the crematorium, turning left down the dimly lit corridor.

“Wait a minute!… Put it down—I’ve gotten it dirty. Let me switch hands…”

The sack was slammed onto the concrete floor, like a crushing burden, and as it fell, the tied mouth opened. Nicoleta’s head spilled out, as if coming back to life. She gasped in the blood, trying to breathe, and her eyes stared strangely at the three figures, frozen at the sight of her still alive… It was nearly 11 p.m…

A little later, in furnace No. 1, permanently reserved for Legionary victims, the fire engulfed her, amid apocalyptic moans of pain. She refused, refused to die, as if in defiance of her executioners…

Suddenly, there was no sound. Silence fell, a deathly, oppressive silence… A tear trickled unnoticed down the cheek of the crematorium mechanic, Ion Cerchez, and he quickly tried to hide it with his hand.

– She’s dead!… Did you see?!… I told you so…

From the chimney of furnace No. 1, bluish smoke spreads like a thin veil over the city plunged into night, heralding the great tragedy… A life of a crusader had been extinguished in flames, at the stake… From the sky, raindrops begin to pour down upon the earth as if on command, and God’s thunderbolts begin to lash the air with furious flashes; but the fire of Judases, hidden, flickers untouched around the martyr’s body…

The wicked council, schemed and decided by those in power against the young Christian Legionnaires, treacherously condemned her to death. The golden fruit of the Land walked the thorny path of Calvary and the salvation of the Nation…

Note: It appears that her ashes were recovered and brought to the Predeal Monastery in 1940. It seems that the later communist regime would be terrified by the martyrs’ graves, for the Securitate learned that at Predeal, Abbot Dionisie Velea (transferred by Patriarch Justinian to serve as chief deacon at the patriarchal cathedral) “had allowed the monk Nicandru Prodan to bring Legionnaires for clandestine meetings and to shelter the remains of Nicoleta Nicolescu, holding special services for her”[1].

Source: Romanian Martyrs and Confessors of the 20th Century – Fabian Seiche

[1] In Adrian Gabor, The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Communist Regime, lecture.

Sofia Cristescu, the heroine’s old friend, writes about her in an autobiographical piece titled “Shattered Fortresses”:

“Around 10 p.m., I heard someone calling Nicoleta’s name at the end of the hallway. The door to my cell was slightly ajar because the guards were soldiers who, seeing me dressed as I was, thought I was one of them and would open the door for me from time to time so I could get a breath of fresh air. When I heard her footsteps near the window, I pushed the door open and saw her passing by. She waved goodbye to me. Immediately, the door was slammed shut with curses, and I fell onto the bed, sobbing uncontrollably, for I had a premonition then that it was the last time I would ever see her. After that, what followed is well known. They took her in a car outside Bucharest and, pulling over, shot her. They wrapped her in a blanket and started the car again. They took her to the crematorium (the place she had said would be among the first targets to be blown up in the Legionnaires’ victory, as the occult temple that it was). They burned her, but God saw to it that her ashes—as well as those of some young men burned there (Miti Dumitrescu’s team)—were placed in a safe place by a Christian soul. He had written on the label placed in the urn: “Unknown woman brought in on the night of July 10 by order of the Security Service.” Because we were wondering if they were truly her ashes, God saw to it that when we tipped the jar into a small green cloth bag and tied it with a tricolor ribbon, something jingled: strung on a safety pin were a small icon of the Virgin Mary and one of Saint Nicholas, which she had worn pinned underneath her clothes and which were now faded but still quite clear.

From the words of my comrade Nicoleta, which I have kept over the years: from a letter addressed to Niki Constantinescu; he had asked her that on Saint Nicholas Day—their day—they should offer prayers together with the girls. We knelt on the cold stone slabs of the church, we prayed and we cried, not for ourselves, not for you, but for all the beauty God left on earth that people failed to understand; eventually we found ourselves smiling because, after all, some had understood. I’ll share the prayer for the Country and the Captain: “And protect, O Lord, this country, this people, this organization, and this Man, and grant them the strength to rise up to the heights of Your love and justice. Have mercy, O Lord, on all our martyrs, and accept the sacrifice of those dear to us.”

Nicoleta Nicolescu, the leader of the Iron Guard’s female wing, leads a salute for other Romanian women at a summer camp. (Romania, 1935).

September 22: The Martyrdom of High School Student Florea Găman from Slatina (1939)

“I attended the one-year memorial service for Florea Găman, a 16-and-a-half-year-old high school student who was murdered on the night of September 21–22, 1939, in the city of Slatina. I recalled the scene of his murder. On the afternoon of September 21, 1939, a police officer picked him up from his home, right in the middle of his family. No one was alarmed. Who could possibly consider a child guilty? A high school student and the son of a respected family in town. He was taken to the basement of the police headquarters, where soon nearly 10 Legionnaires, also picked up at random, were brought in. Toward evening, orders came from Bucharest to have them assassinated—one from the city and two from the county… Those arrested stood together, silent and anxious. The door opens, and the police chief picks out the victim who must die with a single glance. What terrible moments they must have lived through, knowing that the choice depended on the subjective impression of a single glance! Fate and human cruelty chose Florea Găman. He was a handsome, sturdy boy, with a bright face and so much life within him! He troubled those who were defending their own sins through murder.

He was taken—or rather, torn away—from among his comrades and led by the chief guard to the Strahareţ Forest, on the outskirts of the city. Once there, he was told to search for another legionnaire in a thicket. Florea Găman asked to be shot immediately so he would not be tortured any longer. The guard’s mouth twisted into that familiar professional smirk. Not long after, he was killed with several revolver bullets. A few hours after the guards left, Florea Găman came back to life. God did not want to take a child’s soul. His innocence demanded that he live on. With blood gushing from his mouth and wherever the bullets had entered him, he crawled to the outskirts of the city. There, many people gathered around him; several compassionate women picked him up and took him to the hospital. There, the doctors tried to stop the bleeding, but when the police found out, they came and took him to display him to the public in the hospital courtyard. Thus died the young boy Florea Găman.

The family came to take his lifeless body. It was with great difficulty that they were able to take him. The police could do nothing: the family was large, and the events were unfolding at the hospital. The next day, Florea Găman was buried in the town cemetery. The priest offered God’s blessing. The tears of a father, a mother, and a sister—tears that would never be comforted—wet the coffin that covered him.

The night that followed the funeral, the ghouls went out hunting for souls. They had killed the body, but the soul still lived. The police officers who had killed him the night before could not sleep, tormented by the thought that there, in the grave, an innocent man was watching them. And in the dead of night they came to the cemetery. They dug up the dead man. They loaded him into a carriage, went to the banks of the Olt River, and threw him into the water with a boulder tied around his neck. They thought that, at the bottom of the river, he wouldn’t stay long, and this time, his family and the people would never know anything. But after a few days, the river washed the body ashore. A few peasants recognized him. They went to Mr. Găman—the father—and told him. He came and found his child swollen from the water and eaten by fish.”

The murderers of the martyr Florea, whose soul was as pure as a lily, were never held accountable to anyone. Thus, this man, a martyr twice over, was buried once more.

Here is just a fraction of the crimes committed against innocent people simply because they were practicing Christians and Legionnaires. They are in no way inferior to the martyrs of the communist prisons. Those who judge and criticize the Legionary Movement for the “crimes” it committed should first read about the crimes committed against it and then judge.

Let he who is without sin…

[1] The Last Martyrs, based on: Aristide Lefa, For the Sake of Knowing the Truth. Who Were the Victims of Jilava, Bucharest, 2000.

Source: “Romanian Martyrs and Confessors of the 20th Century” – Fabian Seiche

September 22: The Martyrdom of Legion Commander Elena Bagdad

On September 22, 1939, Elena Bagdad, who was seriously ill at the Bârnova tuberculosis sanatorium and had been suffering for eight months, was dragged from her sickbed, taken to the Bârnova–Iaşi road, and executed. Upon arriving at that spot, she knelt and offered a prayer to God. She was ordered to turn her back.

“Why?” she asked.

“So we can execute you.”

Then she rebelled.

“How do you think a Legionary fears death? Shoot me from the front, right through the heart. Fire, and don’t let your hand tremble.”

But the gendarme’s hand trembled. Five bullets failed to bring her down.

“What in God’s name, are you incapable of shooting? Do you want me to show you how to shoot?”

Sergeant S., a brute who had caused her much trouble, took the gun and killed her with three bullets, silencing the cry in her chest: “Long live the Legion and the Captain!”

Killed in a cowardly manner, she was left to die on the road. A forester found her resting her head on one arm. At the sight of the maiden asleep in the Lord, he bowed and fled. She was buried at night, crouched, mostly on her feet, at the place called “Lotul Dumbrava.” During the night, dogs dug up the earth. In the morning, the peasants placed soil on top to cover the top of her head. The patients at the sanatorium called her “The Persecuted Holy Maiden.”

September 22: The martyrdom of Legionary commander Victor Dragomirescu (Bucharest, 1939)

He was imprisoned at Văcăreşti. The prison warden received orders from the Prefecture to keep him at their disposal. In an open car, several agents led by Commissioner Al. Davidescu arrived. Victor was taken out and driven toward the city. Halfway there, following an order, Commissioner Davidescu strangled him. The car continued on to the crematorium; there, the oven was already heated and ready. The body of the slain man is placed in the asbestos coffin to be thrown into the furnace. But at that moment, Victor Dragomirescu, having come back to life, opens his eyes. The hatred that had clenched the commissioner’s fingers around the martyr’s throat had failed to kill him completely. But the hatred was endless in the scoundrel’s soul. The commissioner kicks the coffin containing a living man into the furnace. The confusion in Victor’s eyes then fades into the writhing flames. He was burned alive just like a martyr of Christianity from days of old. One of his close friends, also imprisoned at Văcăreşti, writes about him:

“We had said our morning prayers early that morning, both I and Mr. C-dant, before the icon in the living room… With his back still stiff from the accident [after the persecution began in 1938, Victor had tried to flee to Poland by plane. Due to a technical malfunction of the engine, the plane crashed, and he and the pilot suffered severe internal injuries; they were captured immediately after the crash, tortured for days by police agents, and held without any medical care], he could move with difficulty, in pain, and I helped him as much as I could. Despite all the suffering he endured, his first concern in the morning was to say his prayers. He prayed on his knees, with his hands clasped at his side, and when he finished, bowing deeply, he let out a soft sigh, saying, “Help Your servants, Lord!” It was a profound and solemn moment; his eyes shone with a mystical light of mercy and submission to the will of the Almighty, after which, walking slowly, he returned to the bed he did not leave all day long…”

At the crematorium (one of the eyewitnesses recounts):

“Was I imagining things? Am I hallucinating?—I thought to myself. I lifted him up to the mouth of the furnace, ready to push him inside, when I heard Dragomirescu’s feeble voice:

– Hey, you people, are you burning me alive?!…

I almost dropped the coffin from my hands. I started trembling instinctively.

– He’s alive… did you hear him?! He’s alive!… Let’s get him out of here…

The furnace operator, a short, fat man, had heard it too. He had taken a few steps back and burst out, shaking his head:

– I’m not getting involved in this, sir… This man is alive… I heard him too. I’m not getting involved… Are you crazy?!

– Push him inside! – “Barbu” snapped at “Stoicu.” Let’s get this over with…

– What are you doing, guys!? God…, guys, come on, can you hear me?

…I filed my report, and as we were leaving, the Prefect congratulated us, handing each of us an envelope. It was the reward for killing Dragomirescu: 7 days of leave and 5,000 lei per person… I haven’t touched a penny of it to this day. I still have them in the same red envelope I was given, at the bottom of my trunk.”

This is how the driver of the car concluded his statement: Victor Dragomirescu was burned alive, and his ashes were scattered on the wasteland at Groapă, among the weeds and trash…

Source: “Romanian Martyrs and Confessors of the 20th Century” – Fabian Seiche

Link: https://saccsiv.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/22-septembrie-1939-martiriul-a-trei-legionari-doi-impuscati-si-unul-ars-de-viu-in-crematoriu/

The Massacre of September 21–22, 1939

Legionnaires massacred in the Public Square and their bodies left there as a public exhibition.

 On the night of September 21–22, 1939, 252 Legionnaires were treacherously murdered without trial in camps and throughout the country, on the orders of the executioner King Carol II. At dawn on September 22, every county displayed the corpses of three Legionnaires to passersby—men whom police and gendarmes had dragged from their families in the dead of night, dragged into the streets, and shot, leaving their bodies on public display for three days. Elementary and high school students were systematically taken to see the corpses lying on the pavement, guarded by gendarmes! The persecution of the Legionnaires continued with savagery until the fall of 1940, when King Michael proclaimed the National Legionary State.

The Pretext for the Massacre

The pretext for this pogrom, which decimated a significant portion of the Movement’s leadership, was the assassination of Prime Minister Armand Călinescu on September 21, 1939, in Bucharest, by a Legionary squad. He was shot for his responsibility in the gangster-style murder, by strangulation, of Corneliu Codreanu, the founder and leader of the Archangel Michael Legion, the Nicadori, and the Decemviri, on the orders of Carol II.

Călinescu was a member of the National Peasants’ Party and served as a member of parliament from 1926 to 1937. His obsessive stance toward the Legionnaires led to the fall of the Vaida-Voievod government, of which he was a member, in 1933. He returned to the government led by Octavian Goga as Minister of the Interior. In 1938, he facilitated the arrest of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, who was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor in the salt mines, including for “collusion with the head of a foreign power.” He bears responsibility for ordering the illegal and barbaric assassination of the arrested Legionary leaders, including Codreanu, on November 30, 1938. In December of that same year, he was a founding member of the royalist party, the National Renaissance Front. After brief terms as Minister of Health, Minister of National Education, and Minister of National Defense, on March 7, 1939, King Carol II appointed him Prime Minister of Romania. He was punished for his crimes by the Legionary group known as “The Avengers,” led by Miti Dumitrescu.

After punishing Călinescu, the “Avengers” entered the Radio building, went on the air live, and announced “the demise of the tyrant.” They then surrendered to the police and were killed the next day at the site of the attack.

Legion Heroes and Martyrs Day

In 1940, when the Legionary Movement came to power, September 22 was proclaimed Legion Heroes and Martyrs Day, and the more than 80 Legionary leaders murdered in the concentration camps at Vaslui, Miercurea Ciuc, and Râmnicu Sãrat were exhumed from the camp cemeteries and given a Christian burial in the cemetery of Predeal Monastery, during a grand ceremony attended by Fabricius, the German Minister, and Ghigi, the Italian Minister.

In the cemetery of the “St. Nicholas” Monastery in Predeal lie the remains of the Legionary elite, including Gheorghe Clime, Alexandru Cantacuzino, Nicolae Totu, Alexandru Christian-Tell, Gheorghe Furdui, Bãnica Dobre, Mihail Polihroniade, Paul Craja, Gheorghe Istrate, Ion Banea, Iordache Nicoarã, Ion Belgea, Victor Gârniceanu, as well as the ashes of those cremated by the murderous authorities at the crematorium in the capital: Vasile Christescu, Nicoleta Nicolescu, Victor Dragomirescu, the Nadoleanu group, and the Miti Dumitrescu group.

After the establishment of communism, the Legionary cemetery in Predeal was desecrated by the new atheist authorities; the memorials erected in memory of the heroes were destroyed, and the crosses were burned and defiled.

LIST OF LEGIONARIES MURDERED ON THE NIGHT OF SEPTEMBER 21–22, 1939

From the “Cuvântul” Calendar, 1941

The night of September 21–22, 1939, sanctifies with its blood the greatest heroic sacrifice in the history of the Romanians. 252 Legionnaires, for their faith in the Captain’s work and in the salvific destiny of today’s generation, were murdered, thus committing a crime against the entire Romanian nation. The most valiant Legionnaires, from every corner of the country, from villages and cities, brought about the founding of Legionary Romania through the glory of their death. Their spirit must live on in our deeds. Let us feel their blood and their pain unceasingly. Only thus will we give them the glory they deserve. For they are: Present, Present, Present, in the life of Legionary Romania today and forever.

From official accounts, it appears that on the night of September 21–22, 1939, 10 Legionnaires were murdered in Bucharest; 7 Legionnaires at the Brașov Military Hospital; 44 Legionnaires at the Miercurea Ciuc Camp; 13 Legionnaires at the Râmnicu Sărat Penitentiary; 31 Legionnaires at the Vaslui Camp; and 147 Legionnaires throughout the rest of the country. Thus, a total of 252 Legionnaires in a single night.

Râmnicu Sărat Penitentiary

Cantacuzino Alexandru, lawyer, Bucharest;

Totu Nicolae, lawyer, Bucharest;

Clime Gheorghe, engineer;

Tell C. Alexandru, lawyer, Bucharest;

Furdui Gheorghe, teacher, Bucharest;

Bănică Dobre, newspaper editor, Bucharest;

Mihail Polihroniade, lawyer, Bucharest;

Paul Craja, physician, Bucharest;

Sima Simulescu, professor, Bucharest;

Gheorghe Apostolescu, merchant, Bucharest;

Gheorghe Istrate, graduate of the Academy of Commerce, Bucharest;

Ioan Banea, physician, Cluj;

Aurel Serafim, engineer, Bucharest.

At the Brașov Military Hospital

Cotigă Traian, lawyer, Bucharest, Sărat Special Penitentiary;

Ionică Eugen, engineer, Bucharest, Sărat Special Penitentiary;

Șiancu Emil, reserve officer, Cluj, Sărat Special Penitentiary;

Proca Gheorghe, mechanic, Domnița Maria (Bacău), with mandatory residence in M. Ciuc;

Pihu Grigore, clerk, Bucharest, mandatory residence in Vaslui;

Sușman Iuliu, clerk, Bucharest, mandatory residence in Vaslui;

Herghelegiu Ion, lawyer, Bacău, mandatory residence in M. Ciuc.

In the Vaslui Camp

Spânu Iordache, student, Bucharest;

Clime Traian, student, Bucharest;

Gârcineanu Victor, lawyer, Bucharest;

Teodor Tudose, lawyer, Iași;

Polisperhon Supila, student, Bucharest;

Boboc Constantin, student, Bucharest;

Goga Mircea, student, Bucharest;

Popescu Spiru, student, Frăsan-Durostor;

Comănescu Nicolae, student, Ploiești;

Calapăr Mihsi, theology graduate, Negrești-Neamț;

Belgea Ioan, librarian, Bucharest;

Popescu Vasile, former professional, Bucharest;

Antoniu Ioan, lawyer, Bucharest;

Stahu Teodor, lawyer, Fălticeni-Baia;

Cârdu Valeriu, journalist, Oravița Caraș;

Moțoc Mircea, student, Bucharest;

Răcman Gogu, student, Hodivoaia-Vlașca;

Teohari Mircea, student, Bucharest;

Bujgoli Spiru, B.A. in Literature, Frăsani-Durostor;

Moraru Alexandru, student, Dej-Someș;

Rioșeanu Petre, director, Nitrogen, Bucharest;

Constantiniu Dorin, contractor, S. T. B., Bucharest;

Dobre Radu, technician, S. T. B., Bucharest;

Danielescu Josim, student, Ploiești;

Nicolicescu Gheorghe, engineering student, Bucharest;

Borzea Virgil, student, Brașov;

Caratașu Chiriac, student, Bucharest;

Busuioc Ioan, student, Bucharest;

Maricari Nicolae, assistant, Bucharest;

Tucan Boris, winegrower, Hârtop-Tighina.

Bucharest

Dumitrescu Dumitru, lawyer, from Ploiești;

Popescu Cezar, medical student, from Ploiești;

Popescu Traian, law student, from Ploiești;

Moldoveanu Ion, engineering student, from Ploiești;

Ionescu R. Ion, law student, from Ploiești;

Vasiliu Ion, draftsman, originally from Ploiești;

Ovidiu Isaia, photographer, Bucharest, 34 M. Brătianu Street;

Stănciulescu Marin, locksmith, Bucharest, 24 Brătianu Boulevard;

Paraschivescu Gheorghe, Polytechnic student, Bucharest, 24 Brătianu Boulevard;

Dragomirescu Victor, Polytechnic graduate, from Văcărești Prison.

At the Miercurea Ciuc Camp

Stegărescu Constantin, accountant, Bucharest, Ilfov;

Borzea Titus, student, Brașov;

Rădulescu Virgil, journalist, Bucharest;

Enescu Ioan, student, Bucharest;

Micu Augustin Liviu, engineer, Timișoara;

Macoveschi Ioan, draftsman, Bucharest;

Pavlescu Alexandru, lawyer, Bucharest;

Biriș Ovidiu, lawyer, Bucharest;

Susai Vasile, law graduate, Bucharest;

Felecan Vasile, mechanical fitter, Bucharest;

Prodea Nicolae, locksmith, Bucharest;

Grama Iosif, student, Bucharest;

Miter Ioan, student, Caransebeș;

Popescu B. Anton, clerk, Băile Herculane;

Noaghiea Gh. Virgil, student, Caransebeș;

Tiponuț Gheorghe, high school student, Oradea;

Nuțiu Aurel, student, Bucharest;

Teodorescu Gheorghe, sculptor, Ploiești;

Todan Coriolan, student, Fibiș-T. Torontal;

Ducaru Dumitru, lieutenant, Râșnov-Brașov;

Ungureanu Corneliu, B.A. in Literature, Craiova;

Corbeanu Vasile, student, Bragadiru-Ilfov;

Coman Constantin, student, Bragadiru-Ilfov;

Popa Tiberiu, student, Bragadiru-Ilfov;

Popescu Marin, student, Cumpăna-Constanța;

Vilmuș Adam, cook, Iași;

Dorca Afilon, theology graduate, Velișoara-Severin;

Cioflec Marius, student, Timișoara;

Benec Constantin, CFR employee, Ohaba-Mătnic Severin;

Gheorghe Constantin, student, Stupini-Brașov;

Strugaru Nicolae, lawyer, Iași;

Constantinescu Dimitrie, medical graduate, Iași;

Dobrin Liviu, medical graduate, Arpașul de Jos-Făgăraș;

Zus Radu, student, Chernivtsi;

Buhai Vasile, student, Bucharest;

Iordache N. Nicoară, university assistant, Bucharest;

Raicu Const., graduate, Iași;

Stamate Eugen, student, Iași;

Zanche Petre, civil servant, Iași;

Gârcineanu Florin, lieutenant, Bucharest;

Vasiliu Gheorghe, lieutenant, Iași;

Filipov Vasile, merchant, Bucharest.

In the rest of the country

Durostor County: Nicolae Nastu, Costică Manganița, and Dionisie Memu.

Timiș Torontal County: Udrea Teodor, Dragomir Gheorghe, and Cocora Alexandru.

Caliacra County: Petre Caranica, Chițu M. Popescu, and Dumitru Covache.

Gorj County: Constantin Șerban, Captain Gh. Munteanu, and Priest Motomancea Grigore.

Constanța County: Priest Chivu Ion, Chiriazi Constantin, Priest Mocanu Staicu, and Priest Secăreanu Ion.

Putna County: Vasile State, Nicolae Voinea, and Petre Marin.

Vâlcea County: Priest Aurel Nicolaescu, Dumitru Diaconescu, and Nicolae Vasilescu from the urban area.

Lăpușna County: Diaconescu Vasile, Florescu Sergiu, and Palamarciuc Ioan.

Bacău County: Mircea Condopol, Alexandru Mandache, and Constantin Antonovici.

Mehedinți County: Victor Gheorghiu, Marin Matici, and Petre Geacu.

Argeș County: Ioan Pielmuși, Vasile Olteanu, and Traian Amzăr.

Cluj County: Petre Cuibus and Nicolae Erimia.

Prahova County: Alexandru Cojocaru and Filip Dumitru.

Dolj County: Nicolae Horculescu, Ilie Poenaru, and Ioan I. Ștefanache.

Bihor County: Cosma Lazăr and Jude Dumitru.

Roman County: Creangă Vasile.

Vaslui County: Gheorghe N. Volocaru.

Brăila County: Teodor Bobota and Ioan Udrea.

Cahul County: Lazăr Borzac, Ioan Băleanu, and Iancu Cerbu (later assassinated).

Neamț County: Nicolae Malinici, Vasili Avădanei, and Vasile Puiu.

Olt County: Florea Găman, Dumitru Mânzu, and Gheorghe Preda.

Fălciu County: Ioan Codreanu, Nicolae Emil, and Vasile Croitoru.

Teleorman County: Dumitru Abagiu and Aristotel Cristea.

Ialomița County: Grigore Manolescu, Constantin Constantinescu, and Traian Badea.

Dâmbovița County: Nițescu Petre, Lungu Ioan, and Gălmeanu Ioan.

Dorohoi County: Gheorghe Surugiu, Gheorghe Barbu, and Ioan Honceru.

Turda County: Cucerzan Constantin, Nichita Augustin, and Tonceanu Gheorghe.

Bălți County: Alexe Condratiuc, Victor Ursache, and Ioan Gherman.

Brașov County: Ioan Faur, I. Lehaciu Bordeianu, Radu Papacioc, and Nicolae Nicolici.

Mureș County: Iacob Rusu, Francisc Paletaș, and Nicolae Pădurean.

Hotin County: Vasile Dobuleac, Teodor Dubovinschi, and Iacob Soroceanu.

Cernăuți County: Pisarciuc Silvestru, Regwald Francisc, and Molotiuc Ioan.

Severin County: Ghinda Gheorghe, Galescu Pavel, and Damaschin Sârbu.

Sălaj County: Attorney Augustin Burcaș.

Ciuc County: Iosif Duma, Ioan Caranica, and Mircea A. Ilie.

Tighina County: Wladimir Heidenrech, Constantin Căldare, and Ioan Coragancev.

Năsăud County: Simion Tonea, Cornel Girigan, and Alexandru Tolan.

Cetatea Albă County: Ioan Vlădău, Paucă Dumitru, and Damian Curoglu.

Tecuci County: Căsăneanu Gheorghe, Spirache Teodorescu, and Baciu Vasile.

Muscel County: Nerasan (lawyer from Câmpulung) and Ioan Stancu.

Covurlui County: Costăchel Popa, later assassinated; Tudor Croitoru and Gheorghe Potolea.

Soroca County: Levițchi Ștefan, Șciucă Boris, and Criclivai Azare.

Arad County: Attorney Maduta Ioan, Bulboacă Ioan, and Julan Ilie.

Maramureș County: Ioan Butnaru, Dumitru Chirculiță, and Mircea Belidcan.

Iași County: Elena Bagdad, Nicolae Dănilă, and Fr. Leonid Miron.

Hunedoara County: Petre Popa, Gheorghe Cornea, and Nicolae Sârbu.

Orhei County: Grigore Zalupcescu, Andrei Mocanu, and Naum Răileanu.

Romanați County: Gheorghe Niculescu and Horia Oprovici. (Urban area).

Suceava County: Ioan Neculae Reuț.

Buzău County: M. Constantin Voinea.

Trei Scaune County: Eng. Lascăr Gheorghe, Vrânceanu Gheorghe (later assassinated).

Botoșani County: Vasile Iftimuță, Mihai Grigoriu, and Gheorghe Mancoș.

Satu-Mare County: Bozinteanu Victor and Spiridon Jitaru.

Câmpulung County (Bukovina): Valerian Irimiciue, Traian Țăranu, and Luchian Cozan.

Târnava Mică County: Gheorghe Bârza, Ioan Prus, and Nicolae Codrea.

The other heroes and martyrs assassinated during the persecution of 1938–40 or killed for their Legionary faith in previous years were commemorated in the Legionary Chronology. For some, however, even today it has not been possible to determine the date and circumstances of their assassination. For all Legionnaires who fell on the territory of the Country: PRESENT!

Source: FrontPress.ro

SOURCES: https://bucovinaprofunda.blog/2012/09/22/masacrul-din-21-22-septembrie-1939-252-de-legionari-ucisi-fara-proces-din-ordinul-regelui-carol-al-ii-lea-fotovideo/

 https://saccsiv.wordpress.com/2020/09/22/masacrul-din-21-22-septembrie-1939-norma-lui-carol-al-ii-lea-cate-trei-legionari-ucisi-in-piata-publica-in-fiecare-judet-elevii-adusi-organizat-sa-priveasca-cadavrele/

Source: https://saccsiv.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/martiriul-legionarei-nicoleta-nicolescu-torturata-violata-si-apoi-arsa-de-vie-la-crematoriul-din-bucuresti/