Vladimir Ghika

The work of Vladimir Ghika is marked by an absolute devotion to the most destitute and by an apostolic zeal without borders. Foundations and charitable action in Romania In 1906, Vladimir Ghika introduced the congregation of the Daughters of Charity to Romania. He founded a free dispensary for the poor in Bucharest and the first free hospital in the country (the Sacred Heart Hospital). During the Second Balkan War in 1913, he devoted himself heroically to cholera patients in the lazarettos, at the risk of his own life. During the First World War, he continued his charitable and diplomatic activities in Rome and Paris, caring for war wounded, victims of the Avezzano earthquake (1915), and tuberculosis patients. His diplomatic action for the restoration of relations between France and the Holy See earned him the Legion of Honor in 1921. The priesthood and the double rite At the age of 50, Vladimir Ghika was ordained a priest on October 7, 1923, in Paris, in the Lazarist chapel, by Cardinal Louis-Ernest Dubois, Archbishop of Paris. Pope Pius XI granted him the exceptional privilege of celebrating Mass in both the Latin and Byzantine rites, making him a precursor of modern ecumenism. The Parisian ministry and foundations Incardinated into the Diocese of Paris, he was appointed to the Church of Foreigners (today the Church of Saint-Ignace, Rue de Sèvres). There, he exercised a fruitful ministry, fostering numerous conversions among the intellectuals and artists of the time (he was a friend of Jacques Maritain, Paul Claudel, and Francis Jammes). In 1926, he founded the community of the Brothers and Sisters of Saint-Jean at the former Auberive Abbey (Haute-Marne), a work of community life and welcoming those in distress that would only last a few years due to a lack of resources. From 1927 to 1931, he chose to live in a miserable shack in Villejuif to evangelize the working-class suburbs. The "apostolic vagabond" Named an apostolic protonotary in 1931 by Pius XI, he was nicknamed by the latter the "apostolic vagabond" because of his numerous travels around the world. A member of the steering committee of the International Eucharistic Congresses, he traveled across the five continents (Sydney, Buenos Aires, Dublin, Manila) and participated notably in the founding of the first Carmel of Tokyo in Japan.

In 1939, as the Second World War broke out, Msgr. Ghika was in Romania. With the authorization of the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Emmanuel Suhard, he decided to remain there to assist Polish refugees fleeing the Nazi invasion and to care for the wounded.

After the war, the advent of the communist regime in Romania inaugurated a period of violent persecution against the Catholic Church and the Greek-Catholic Church. Despite the obvious dangers and the incentives to leave the country, Msgr. Ghika refused to flee and chose to remain by the side of his compatriots to preserve the link between the local Church and the Holy See.

On November 18, 1952, while on his way to the bedside of a sick person, he was arrested by the political police (Securitate). Accused of espionage for the benefit of the Vatican and high treason, he underwent a mock military trial. During his detention, this old man of nearly 80 years was subjected to more than eighty nocturnal interrogations, beaten until he partially lost his sight and hearing, and tortured with electricity. Despite this abuse, he refused to renounce his faith and his union with Rome, becoming a model of courage for his fellow prisoners. Sentenced to three years in prison, he died of exhaustion and mistreatment on May 16, 1954, at Jilava prison, near Bucharest.

The cause for the beatification of Vladimir Ghika was officially opened in 2002 by the Archdiocese of Bucharest. On March 27, 2013, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing his martyrdom in odium fidei (in hatred of the faith), thus opening the way for his beatification without the requirement of a miracle. The beatification ceremony was celebrated on August 31, 2013, in Bucharest (at Romexpo), presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and Special Envoy of Pope Francis. The celebration took place in the presence of Archbishop Ioan Robu of Bucharest, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, and thousands of the faithful. His liturgical feast is set for May 16, the day of his birth into Heaven.

The spirituality of Blessed Vladimir Ghika rests on two fundamental pillars: the "theology of need" and the "liturgy of the neighbor."\n\nFor Msgr. Ghika, every need encountered on our path is a visit from God and an immediate call to love. He considered the service of the poor and the suffering as a direct extension of the Eucharistic liturgy, affirming that "nothing makes God as close as the neighbor."\n\nHis conversion to Catholicism was not experienced as a denial of his Orthodox origins, but as an expansion to the universal dimension of the Church. He liked to repeat: "I did not become Catholic. I acted to become a better Orthodox." He thus dedicated his life to working for the unity of the Christians of the East and the West.\n\nHis legacy remains alive in Romania and in France. As a testimony to his unwavering bond with the diocese of Paris, relics of Blessed Vladimir Ghika were placed in the new altar of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris during its solemn reopening on December 8, 2024.