Vladimiresti Monastery

An incredible true story
Vladimiresti was founded in 1938 by Vasilica Barbu Gurau, who became Sister Lica. In 1941, she took the veil to become Mother Veronica. Vasilica had lost her mother at the age of two. Her wicked stepmother locked her in a henhouse where it was expected she would die - the intention was to gain her parents inheritence. At the age of eight, she escaped and ran into the nearby village. All the children and villagers surrounded her, both amazed and horrified, for she was filthy, dressed in rags and barely able to speak. She showed them a small wooden icon of the Virgin and managed to communicate that it had been given to her by her mother who wished her to be safe in the care of her “Heavenly” Mother, the mother of Jesus. The priest and villagers took her into their care until her mother's parents fetched her. They were very poor so she earned her keep by herding cattle in the pastures, living almost as a hermit, at one with nature.

At the age of 15 she was still there but could still neither read nor write. In summer 1936 there was a drought. One particularly hot day she came running into the village announcing a miracle - she had seen the Virgin, Jesus and an old man - God, in a beam of light which turned into flame when touching the earth on the Gurgueta Hill outside the village! They had given her a command to pass on to the people - to build a convent and dedicate it to the Holy Virgin, for the redemption of Romania. They told her the country would be faced with terrible trials in the coming years so the nuns should pray unceasingly for mercy. The nuns should never number more than 200 and the church, cells and convent were to be the work of their own hands.

Work began that very week. She carved a cross on the bark of the old tree where God had spoken to her and the news of her vision spread. Girls from nearby villages came to help her and the peasants gave them the land with the tree. One story tells how Vasilica toured the country seeking finance - one summers day she found herself at Peles Castle at Sinaia where she approached a man in overalls working on a motorcar. He told her to wait, went inside and returned with a casket of jewels. Later, further donations of cement and wood for construction were made - the beneficiary was King Mihai! Over the years the troubles of war and then communism had fallen on Romania. In 1948 Gheorghe Apostol (the Party Secretary) paid a visit - he knew Mother Veronica for she had sheltered him during the war. He wanted her to turn this model community into a commune ruled under the directives of the Central Committee.
The miracle-making icon of the Virgin Mary at Vladimiresti. This icon was originally in a Russian  church. When that church was closed the icon was removed and hidden. In 1943, a Colonel Dumitru., on his way back to Romania from the Eastern Front, received the icon as a gift by some Russian christians and subsequently donated it to Vladimiresti Monastery. When the Monastery was closed down, the icon was piously kept in the village of Tudor Vladimirescu for 35 years - it has now returned to its rightful place in the church of the Monastery.

photo courtesy of Marie-Paule Hayward
The convent had become an embarrassment to government and politburo, not least because it was long suspected that it had been used to shelter "enemies" of the state. Indeed, catacombs and secret rooms excavated beneath the church were used to harbour numerous people fleeing the communist purges of the 1950s. Mother Veronica was arrested on the night of 29 March 1955 and charged as an "Enemy of the People". Then, on the night of 14 February 1956 the monastery was finally requisitioned by the communists - a convoy of 60 military vehicles surrounded it, blocking all escape routes. Guns were held to the heads of the remaining sisters by the securitate whilst their identities were established. They were then trucked to Galati and later to Dumbraveni prison for wearing an "illegal uniform"! Some of them were beaten, tortured or ridiculed, others died in prison and became martyrs. The story thus far is related in a book written by Silviu Craciunas ("The Lost Footsteps" - 1961). Silviu was involved in setting up escape routes to the West and pockets of resistance until his arrest, torture and imprisonment in 1950. He finally escaped custody after several years and for a while he was harboured in a secret room in the church tower with the assistance of Mother Veronica. He was present when the Communists arrived and escaped via the catacombs and tunnels, eventually reaching Austria, and then ultimately the UK. When he left he was given a little icon by Mother Veronica in order to keep alive the memory of Vladimiresti.
However, the story doesn’t end there. After her arrest, Mother Veronica, was thrown into the notorious Jilava jail, beaten with a wet whip and tortured, and condemned to 15 years of labour and punishment. Her sentence was later reduced to 8 years and she was released in 1964. She worked in Bucharest under constant surveillance though the sisters kept in contact, usually by attending the funerals of mutual friends and colleagues. Mother Veronica went to great lengths to allay suspicion and to foil the Securitate - she even married!

On Christmas Day 1989, just three days after the Romanian Revolution a strange spectacle was witnessed in the little village of Tudor Vladimirescu - hordes of women, dressed in black, walking silently up the little track leading from the railway halt to the monastery of Vladimiresti, their eyes filled with tears. The nuns, lead by Mother Veronica, were returning to their rightful home, to their place where, in their hearts, they wanted to celebrate the birth of Christ. They found their monastery in a poor condition. It had been used as a home for mentally handicapped children and the church had been used as a gymnasium and storage area. The tiled floor was damaged, the stained-glass windows smashed and the frescoes deteriorated. But their were some surprises - a portrait of King Mihai still hung just inside the doorway, covered throughout the communist period by another picture, and many of the icons had been kept safely by villagers and were now returned. Many of the original nuns joined her together with several younger girls.

Vladimiresti Monastery.

photo: Colin Shaw
- courtesy of Marie-Paule Hayward
There are now once more 200 nuns working in the convent. The church has been restored and a new building constructed which is believed to be accommodation for visitors. A museum has been added recently which contains the wooden cross described by Silviu Craciunas - the "Cross of the Maize Field" - as well as the the icon of the Holy Virgin, given to Vasilica (Mother Veronica) by her mother. There is also a collection of 18th and 19th Century icons. The catacombs and secret rooms have also been destroyed. The tree was cut down as it was dying and the wood used for crucifixes which were given to villagers. Nowadays, Vladimiresti is an incredible working community which is largely self-sufficient.
Vladimiresti Monastery.

photo courtesy of Marie-Paule Hayward
T
VLADIMIRESTI: THE FACTS

Convent for nuns founded in 1938 by Vasilica Barbu Gurau .
Requisitioned by the Communists in 1956 and re-opened in 1990.
Today it is the 3rd largest working convent in Romania with around 200 nuns.
Dedication Day is the "Assumption of the Virgin" - 15 August

LOCATION: Tudor Vladimirescu in south eastern Romania,
Road DN25 between Tecuci and Galati/ Braila
Railway Station: Tudor Vladimirescu

We are happy to incorporate a visit to Vladimiresti into tailor-made itineraries.
It provides an ideal place to break the journey between the Painted Monasteries or
the Vineyards of the Eastern Carpathians and the Danube Delta or Black Sea
The years of Communist rule often saw little respect for art and culture throughout Romania. Many monasteries, mansions, palaces and stately homes were requisitioned and became used for party officials, collective headquarters, orphanages or institutions. For example the castle at Farcadin near Hateg became the headquarters of an agricultural collective. However, later it was just used to shelter cattle and became a ruin. Thankfully it has been saved and is being slowly restored.

The later years of the Ceausescu regime posed an even greater threat when the "Systematisation" programme was commenced. The creation of the "People's Palace" in Bucharest resulted in one quarter of old Bucharest being bulldozed - including churches and synagogues. Throughout the country old buildings, many of them with a considerable historic value, were earmarked for demolition. In a country living in fear of the Securitate and informers there was little that could be done.
The little icon given to Silviu Craciunas by Mother Veronica whilst being harboured at Vladimiresti - it was returned to the monastery in August 2000. Nevertheless, when the old Saxon church in Bistrita was declared unsafe in 1989 (a common excuse for the clearing of a building) the people grouped together and demonstrated. The action created international interest and the church, which has recently been restored, was saved. Thankfully the Revolution brought an end to this plan though not before two villages near Bucharest had been razed and areas of other towns and villages had been cleared for redevelopment.
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