COMENIUS MULTILATERAL PROJECT FINANCED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION THROUGH THE L.L.P. PROGRAMMES “ R.R.E.V.“ (REDISCOVER THE REAL EUROPEAN VALUES) PARTNERS: , Estonia, Italy, Spain, Norway, , Cyprus, Holland, .

‘This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.’

Vladimir Ghika Decebalus

Decebalus or "The Brave" (originally named Diurpaneus) was a king of Dacia (ruled the Dacians,the ancestors of Romanians,between 87–106) and is famous for fighting three wars and negotiating two treaties of peace without being eliminated against the Roman Empire under two emperors. In the later short peace (end of 102- 105) granted by Trajan, Decebalus continued to act as an independent king, rather than a conquered one. Consequently, the Legions under Trajan's orders went on the offensive again in 105 AD, conquering the Dacian capital Sarmizegetusa in 106. After that, Decebalus committed suicide.

• First war (101-102)

• Decebalus was defeated by the Romans when they invaded Dacia beginning March 25, 101 AD, again in the fortifications of Tapae. After accepting harsh peace conditions including losses in territory, he was left as a client king under a Roman protectorate and a small local garrison.

• Second war (105-106) - The fall of Dacia

• Three years later, Decebalus destroyed the small Roman garrison in Dacia, and the Romans were forced again to send reinforcements, and this time Trajan decided to definitively conquer Dacia.

• After a long siege of the Dacian Capital, Sarmizegetusa , the Romans conquered Dacia. Decebalus managed to escape with his family. Trajan's Column in

The Legacy of Decebalus

• Decebalus is considered a national hero in Romania and has been portrayed in numerous literary works, movies (e.g. Dacii, directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu), sculptures, etc. His first known portrait has been preserved on Trajan's Column, the commemorative stone column completed in 113. Trajan's Column depicts the key moments of the last two wars between Dacia and the Roman Empire in carved basrelief. During the 1990s, a team of sculptors carved a 40-meter tall statue of Decebalus from a stone outcrop near the city of Orşova, Romania. Monsignor Vladimir Ghika

• Vladimir Ghika or Ghica (December 25, 1873 in , now , Turkey -May 16, 1954 in Jilava prison, in Romania) was a Romanian prince, diplomat and essayist who, after his conversion from Romanian Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism, became a priest, dying in prison as a martyr of faith after his arrest by the Communist regime. He was a member of the Ghica family of aristocrats and kings. Monsignor Vladimir Ghika was proposed for based on a dossier about his extraordinary life and is now on examination by the Congregation for the Causes of in the Vatican. • Son of John Ghika (major general, minister plenipotentiary) and Alexandrina Ghika. He was baptized and annointed by his Orthodox faithful mother who was very fond of the Church, his father being at that time minister plenipotentiary in Turkey. In the year 1878 he is sent to school in France at , and left in the care of a Protestant family in terms of education and religious practice because in the area there there is no Orthodox church. He will graduate in 1895 the Faculty of Political Science. In paralel he attended courses of medicine, botany, art, literature, philosophy, history and law. Ghika returns to Romania due to angina pectoris, where he will continue his studies until 1898 when he goes to Rome where he will attend the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology of the Dominicans in Rome, Angelicum. It is during this period ( 1902 ) when he made the Catholic profession of faith. He wanted to become a priest or monk, but Pius XI advised him to give up the idea, at least for a while, and dedicate himself to the secular apostolate. He worked as a lay missionary worldwide, in Bucharest, Rome, Paris, Congo, , , , becoming one of the pioneers of the laics apostolate. Returned to the country, he dedicates himself to the works of charity and opened the first free clinic in Bucharest called Mariae Bethlehem, he set the great hospital and sanatorium ‘ ’ also founded the first free hospital in Romania and the first ambulance, becoming founder of the first Catholic charity work in Romania. He participated in health services during the Balkan war in 1913 and took care of the cholera patients without fear in Zimnicea . During World War was in charge of diplomatic missions of the Avezzano but also took care of the earthquake victims, of tuberculosis patients of Hospice of Rome and of the war wounded, moving from the most popular diplomatic environments to charity with a surprising naturalness. • On October 7, 1923 Ghika was ordained priest in Paris by Cardinal Dubois, Archbishop of the city, and he will carry out priestly ministry in France until 1939. The has granted him,shortly after ordination, the right to celebrate also in the . Prince Ghika became the first biritual Romanian priest . In 1930, when ill, is withdrawn and is appointed Rector Aliens Church in Paris.

• On 13th May 1931 the appointed him Apostolic . Reluctant to accept this appointment as at his entry among clergy had decided not to accept ecclesiastical dignities,on 3 August 1939 he returned to Romania, when the Second World War started. He refused to leave Romania,as he wanted to be with the poor and sick, to be able to help and encourage, living for the same reason in Bucharest when the Allied bombing started.

• After the Communists came to power also refuses to leave with King in the the royal train for the same reasons. He was arrested on November 18, 1952 on charges of "high treason" for continuing to celebrate the holy mess publicly and imprisoned at Jilava where he was threatened, beaten and until blood tortured. A year later takes place, and on May 16, 1954 dies due to bestial treatment he was subjected.

STUDIES WRITINGS • 1893 - School of Toulouse (France) Although having a great culture and • 1893 - 1895 - Follow Faculty of great capacity, avoided to produce Political Sciences in Paris, attending personal writings. He wrote forced by also courses in medicine, botany, art, circumstances and needs. He did literature, philosophy, history and research work in the Vatican archives, law, but becoming ill he returned to Romania, where for two years. publishing some of the results in the " Revue Catolique ". He wrote magazine • 1895 - 1898 – He will continue his articles in "Literary Talk", " La Revue studies in private Hebdomadaire "," Les Études "," Le Correspondant "," La Revue des Jeunnes “ • 1898 - 1905 - Faculty of Philosophy, , " La Documentation Catholique”. Also Theology There follows the short personal meditations, were Dominicans in Rome (Angelicum) and subsequently published in various obtained a degree in philosophy and a doctorate in theology editions as " Pensées pour la suite des jours “ as well as a few homilies, • 1904 - 1906 – Thessaloniki- continues articles, conferences and publications. to study philosophy and theology

Writings Writings published in published in French Romanian • Meditation de l'Heure Sainte, first edition, 1912 • Pensées pour la suite des jours, first edition, 1923 • Our Lady and the Holy Sacrament. Speech delivered by Monsignor Ghika opening in • Les intermedes of Talloires, 1924 November 1928 Eucharistic Congress in • At Messe byzantine appropriations of St-Jean Sydney, Chrysostom, 1924 • Adulteress. Gospel Mystery comprising a • Pauvres often to count, first edition, 1923 prologue, an act, an epilogue. Pieasă theater • Roseau d'Or ( Chroniques - Volume VIII), a collection of thoughts (such Pensées pour la • Thoughts for the days ahead suite des jours ), 1928 • Spiritual conversation • La Sainte Vierge et le Saint Sacrement, 1929 • Interludes in Talloires • Vigia (book IV), a collection of thoughts (such • Last witness, Vladimir Ghika, pref. Yvonne Pensées pour la suite des jours ), 1930 Estienne • La femme adultery, Mystic évangélique, Spare • Posthumous fragments. Institute of Theatre, 1931 previously unpublished archive • At souffrance , first edition, 1932 • "Vladimir Ghika" (translation of documents • Prochain go to Mass , first edition, 1932 unpublished) • At Présence de Dieu , first edition, 1932 Thank you for your attention!

• Presentation made by students Lucian Ignat and Silviu Blajut from the “St. ” high school, Roman, Romania.