Vladimir Ghika
| Blessed Vladimir Ghika | |
|---|---|
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Prince Ghika at Paray-le-Monial, holding up the Sacred Heart banner of Roman Catholicism in Romania (1917)
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| Priest, Bi-Ritual Priest, Prince | |
| Born |
25 December 1873 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 16 June 1954 (aged 80) Jilava, Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania |
| Venerated in |
Roman Catholic Church Eastern Catholic Churches |
| Beatified | 31 August 2013, Bucharest, Romania by Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., representing Pope Francis |
| Major shrine | St. Basil's Greek Catholic Church, Bucharest, Romania |
| Feast | 16 May |
Vladimir Ghika or Ghica (25 December 1873 - 16 May 1954) 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 from the 17th to the 19th century.
He died in prison in May 1954 after his arrest by the Communist regime.
Vladimir Ghika was born on Christmas Day of 1873 in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). His family consists of a father named John Ghika, a minister plenipotentiary in Turkey, a mother named Alexandrina Ghika (née Alexandrina Moret de Blaremberg), and four brothers and a sister: Gregory, Alexander, George and Ella, who both died at an early age, and Demetrius Ghika. He was the grandson of the last ruler 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.
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