Gheorghe Nițescu – purity and candour of soul

Gheorghe Nițescu was an open man, optimistic, cheerful, expansive. Convicted as a legionnaire, he was sent to Pitești, but, suffering from tuberculosis[1], he left before the start of his re-education[2] and was taken to Târgu-Ocna. He arrived at Târgu-Ocna with Valeriu Gafencu.

He had come from Pitești quite seriously ill, but at first he could still move, he was not bedridden yet. Towards the end, as his illness worsened, he ended up in room 4, the dying room, where Valeriu was also.

Under Valeriu’s influence, he improved spiritually and practised the prayer of Jesus. When he came to prison, his spiritual level was that of a moral Christian, who believes in God and goes to church, but is not particularly interested in mystical life. But he had a purity and candour of soul that made him very open to spiritual service. He knew that his illness was serious and that he had no chance of recovery, but he was not sad, he was not afraid, he waited calmly and confidently, placing himself in God’s hands. It was under these circumstances that the streptomycin arrived. He was summoned by the political officer, who told him:

– If you want to live, you must promise to give us information.

He indignantly refused. But you should know that if you really wanted to live and not betray them, you could sign the pledge and not keep it, that is, you could try to trick them. You could have thought: I’ll sign, take the drugs and then give them harmless information, maybe things will change and I’ll escape alive. The important thing is to take the drugs and get out alive. Well, Nițescu couldn’t think like that. For him, for the purity of his soul, even to sign without giving information was a compromise, a sin. He considered it a great sin. That’s why he refused, from a Christian position, believing it to be a sin, not from a moral, let’s call it a philosophical position.

After the discussion with the political officer, he came back very indignant:

– How can I write that I am giving him information? That’s a compromise, a sin, and I can’t do that! How could he call me a traitor?

In his heart he could not accept that. He said:

– I can’t betray, and even if I die, may God forgive me for my sins!

He died with this serenity, he had no regrets, no hesitation for the gesture he had made. I was with him until the end. He died at night and I spoke to him the day before.

His illness was progressing and his strength was diminishing. He went out like a candle without wax. Nițescu was under Valeriu’s influence in spirit, a sort of apprentice of his.

(Ion Popescu – Valeriu Gafencu. The Saint of Prisons, edited by the monk Moise Iorgovan, pp. 201-203)

[1] Gheorghe Nițescu’s criminal record indicates a diagnosis of pulmonary TB, phase II.

[2] This statement is not entirely accurate, as Gheorghe Nițescu remained in Pitesti Prison until 10 February 1950, and re-education through torture had already begun in December 1949.