Prayer

for the canonization of Vladimir Ghika

Lord, Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, look with kindness upon the people of Romania from whose midst you chose Vladimir Ghika.

May his example of faith and love shine ever more brightly amongst us. We pray for the grace … that through the merits and the sanctity of his martyrdom, he may be recognized as a saint. We ask this for your greater glory, you who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.

Our Father… Hail Mary … Glory be ….

Or:

Lord, Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, you sent your apostles and disciples into the whole world to bring the good news of your love to all peoples. At the Last Supper, just before your supreme self-offering for the Salvation of the world, you prayed to your Heavenly Father that your church might become One.

Look with kindness upon the people of Romania from whose midst you chose Vladimir Ghika, noble by birth and noble by vocation. He was your witness throughout the world, confirming his faith in you through his martyrdom, with the zeal of an apostle.

May his example of faith and love shine ever more brightly amongst us. During his earthly life, he accomplished great deeds of charity through your power and brought East and West together in harmony. We pray for the grace that through the merits and the sanctity of his martyrdom, he may be recognized as a saint and that through his intercession, in the near future, all Christians may be united. We ask this for your greater glory, you who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.

Our Father… Hail Mary … Glory be …. 

Those who have received graces through the intercession of  Msgr. Vladimir Ghika
are invited to make them known at: Postulatura Vladimir Ghika 

Str. General Henri Berthelot nr. 19 - 010164 Bucharest - Romania

Tel: +40 21 2015400 - postulatura@vladimirghika.ro - www.vladimirghika.ro

Short biography

Vladimir Ghika was born on the 25^th of December, 1873, in Constantinople, descending form a ruling Romanian family. He was baptized and confirmed in the Orthodox Church.

In 1879 he arrived in France, his adoptive country. In 1902, he officially joined the Catholic Church and, animated by a strong ecumenical spirit, fought all his life for Christian unity.

He devoted himself to the poor, to the miserable and to all those harmed by life’s trials. He was instrumental in bringing the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity to Romania; he opened the first hospital for the poor in Bucharest and got involved wherever war and epidemics induced suffering.

In 1923 he was ordained a priest in Paris. Later the Pope named him apostolic protonotary and member of the board of the Eucharistic Congress. His priestly and apostolic activity had no limits: with infinite kindness, always ready to answer the call of the souls in need, he traveled to the five continents.

In 1939 he returned to Romania. He chose to remain there, where he consumed himself endlessly, staying close to his suffering fellow citizens. In 1952 he was arrested and convicted by the newly installed communist authorities, along with many other victims of that religious persecution.

After spending twenty years in lay apostolate and thirty years as a priest, he gave his life as a martyr of faith, on the 16^th of May, 1954, in a prison in Bucharest.

In 2002, the informative process regarding his martyrdom was initiated. 
Based on the dossier submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the Vatican, 27^th March 2013, Pope Francis declared Vladimir Ghika had been a martyr. This clears the way for his beatification on 31^st August 2013.
Let us pray that Msgr. Vladimir Ghika’s canonization, for the glory of God and for the salvation of souls, bring him shortly to canonization.