“He did not compromise, he had a princely dignity. And he was also very faithful”

– Apart from Oprișan, who influenced you in prison?

– Prince Ghica, from whom I learned good manners. I met him in Jilava. Prince Ghica was a big and very polite man. He would greet you first. Even though we were younger, he would come first and say “Good morning”.

He would ask you: “May I sweep the cell for you today?” How could I? How to tell him:

“Yes, sir, sweep!”… But he would insist: “Please, please!”

And you were ashamed to refuse him in the end. Or if someone was sick or weak, the Prince would get up in the morning and sweep before they could get up. And there was an elegance in his expression, a nobility, something extraordinary! He didn’t compromise, he had a princely dignity. He was also very faithful.

– Mr. Marcel told me that when it was Prince Ghica’s turn to choose his bread, he always took the smallest piece.

– Yes, yes.

(Pr. Gheorghe Calciu Dumitreasa – The Life of Father Gheorghe Calciu according to his and others’ testimonies, Christiana Publishing House, Bucharest, 2007, p. 73)