The life of Father Ilie Lăcătușu

Father Ilie Lăcătușu was born on 6 December 1909 in the village of Crăpăturile, Vâlcea County. Father Ilie was 74 years old and went to meep the Lord on 22 July 1983. Ilie Lăcătușu was a priest who served during the great period of Christian persecution, during the communist era, for his life and deeds he was accused by the regime and imprisoned as a political prisoner.

Fr. Ilie Lăcătușu was born into a family of seven children. His parents, Marin and Maria, were simple people with great faith in God. His father was a church teacher, which led the young Ilie to serve the Holy Church.

After finishing primary school, the young Ilie went to the Theological Seminary in Râmnicu-Vâlcea, where he studied between 1923 and 1930. Here he would graduate with a diploma of virtue, on which it would be stated: “For his spiritual gifts, which distinguished him among his peers”.

After finishing school in Vâlcea, he went to Bucharest, where he studied at the Faculty of Theology between 1930 and 1934. During his studies, Ilie Lăcătușu will marry the teacher Ecaterina Popescu, the wedding being celebrated on 5 July 1931. The couple will have and raise five children.

On 1 September 1934, Ilie Lăcătușu was ordained a priest in the parish of Osica de Jos, Olt County. He served in this parish until November 1934, when he was sent to the village of Buicești, also in Olt County. He worked tirelessly in the Church and in the family.

From 1942, Father Ilie Lăcătușu was sent as a missionary priest across the Dniester, in Odessa and Ribnita counties. The following year, Father Lăcătușu returned home to his wife and children.

The year 1952 was to be a great trial for Father Ilie. On the 19th of July, Father Ilie was arrested and imprisoned in the Canal forced labour colony. From July to October, Father Ilie worked side by side with his fellow prisoners on the Danube-Black Sea Canal. In October he was transferred to a special colony made up almost exclusively of priests.

The following year, he found Father Ilie Lăcătușu in Târgu Ocna prison, where he was transferred because of his poor health and inability to work. Father Ilie would spend two years there, without any legal basis, without any written sentence, without any document.

Father Ilie Lăcătușu was released on 26 April 1954. He returned to the church of Buicești, where he served the people and the Church until his next arrest, four years later, on 1 July 1959. He was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and sent to Periprava in the Danube Delta. It was there that he met Father Iustin Pârvu and it was not until 6 May 1964 that he was able to return home.

Although he was released, Father Pârvu still had no peace. The unbelievers forced him to live in Bolintinu, where he had to work as a bricklayer. It was not until 20 December 1964 that Father Ilie Lăcătușu was able to serve the Church again, this time in Teleorman County, in the parish of Gărdești. In 1970, Father Ilie was transferred to a village in Răsuceni, Giurgiu County. Here he served until his retirement on 11 January 1978.

Father Ilie Lăcătușu ended up in hospital because of the many sufferings and hardships he had to endure during his life. On his sickbed he made a prophecy, a kind of testament. He asked that if his wife died in 15 years, she should be buried in the same place as him.

Father went to sleep in the Lord on 22 July 1983 in the Panduri Hospital in Bucharest.

Fr. Ilie Lăcătușu was buried in the cemetery of the Assumption of the Mother of God in Bucharest. Here his family had a crypt. His body was not embalmed, as the canons of the Church forbid it, especially for priests.

(Source: Orthodox Christian)