Vasile Aftenie

From 1926 to 1934, Vasile Aftenie taught canon law and ecclesiastical history at the Theological Academy of Blaj. In 1934, he became protopope of Bucharest and parish priest of the Saint Basil the Great parish. Appointed canon in Blaj in 1937, then rector of the Theological Academy in 1939, he was appointed titular bishop of Ulpiana and auxiliary of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia by Pope Pius XII on April 12, 1940. Consecrated on June 5 or 6, 1940, by Metropolitan Alexandru Nicolescu, he became vicar general for Bucharest and the Old Kingdom. In June 1941, he was appointed apostolic administrator of the archdiocese of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia.

After the Second World War, the communist regime attempted to liquidate the Greek-Catholic Church. Bishop Aftenie firmly opposed this, affirming his Church's fidelity to Rome. Arrested on the night of October 28 to 29, 1948, he was interned at Dragoslavele and then at the Căldărușani monastery. He refused the bribery offers of Prime Minister Petru Groza, who proposed that he become an Orthodox metropolitan in exchange for his apostasy. Transferred to the Ministry of the Interior in May 1949, he underwent severe torture under the direction of General Alexandru Nikolski. Paralyzed after a stroke in March 1950, he died on May 10, 1950, at the Văcărești prison hospital and was secretly buried in Bellu cemetery.

The cause for the beatification of Bishop Vasile Aftenie and his six fellow martyr bishops officially began on January 28, 1997. The diocesan inquiry took place from 1999 to 2009. On March 19, 2019, Pope Francis recognized their martyrdom 'in hatred of the faith' (in odium fidei). On June 2, 2019, Pope Francis personally celebrated the beatification of Vasile Aftenie and his companions on the Field of Liberty in Blaj, before more than 60,000 faithful.

The spirituality of Bishop Aftenie was based on abandonment to the will of God, illustrated by his ordination motto: 'Lord, teach me to do Thy will!'. His martyrdom symbolizes the fidelity of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church to the Apostolic See. His grave at Bellu cemetery became a place of clandestine pilgrimage under communism. Exhumed on May 12, 2010, his mortal remains now rest in the Greek-Catholic Church of the Assumption in Bucharest, where they are offered for the veneration of the faithful.