Father Constantin Stoicescu’s suffering in the dungeon of Constanța

To add to the terror, the prison administration had adopted the custom of sending a guard to the door in the evening before closing time. He would look angrily at his prey, search us one by one and then signal to one of us to follow him. After a few minutes, from the guardhouse at the entrance, the terrible screams of the person taken from the cell could be heard.

One evening the victim was Father Constantin Stoicescu. Shortly after he was taken away, we heard the terrified screams of the priest, and then silence spread throughout the prison. Finally, the guard brought him and pushed him into the room, where he fell limply to the floor. I could see that he had been badly beaten, his whole body was covered in bruises and blood. Beyond, outside the door, the guard paused to enjoy the full effect of the torture he had inflicted on the priest.

When they were all immobilised, one of the condemned broke free, dragging the rattling chains behind him. Bending down, he helped the beaten man to his feet, then carefully carried him to his bed, stripped him of his shirt and placed two wet towels over his body, which had been beaten beyond belief by these soulless and godless beasts.

The towels quickly became hot and were carried back and dipped in cold water to cover the swollen body of the guiltless damned.

– Leave me alone, Gogoloea, and get out of here so they don’t start beating you up too, and vow betide you then!

– But what, Father, am I not to be beaten? If I didn’t die in Aiud, may I not die in Constanța?

(Grigore Caraza, Aiud însângerat, edited by Adrian Alui Gheorghe, 5th edition, Tipo Moldova Publishing House, Iași, 2013, pp. 132-133)