The prisons of Father Constantin Stoicescu

He was born on 29 January 1913 in Vintilă Vodă, Buzoi. After attending primary school in his native village (1920-1925), the young Stoicescu enrolled at the Theological Seminary in Buzău, graduating in 1934. He returned to his native village, where he worked as a woodcutter. He started a family and in 1937 he received the gift of the priesthood in the parish of Ploștina, Goidești, Buzău County. At the same time he continued his theological studies at the Faculty in Chernivtsi, attending only the examination sessions.

He became politically active during the period of the National Legionary Government. In November 1940, his brother-in-law, the priest Gheorghe Dragomirescu, garrison commander, enrolled him in the Legionary Movement. Father Stoicescu was appointed head of the nest and held meetings in the Town Hall, but his activity was modest. In January 1941, together with other clergymen from Buzău’s Slănic Valley, he was transported by truck to take part in the events taking place in Buzău. When he arrived in the county town, he was surrounded by the military and released the next day. For his alleged participation in the uprising, Father Stoicescu was tried by the military tribunal of Buzău, which acquitted him.

In 1949, he was again under surveillance by the state authorities. It all began in October 1948, when he helped his brother-in-law, Păun Nicolae, who was being pursued by the communist authorities and was on the run in the mountains. Father Stoicescu offered him shelter and food, even in the mountains. He also facilitated correspondence between those in the mountains and various people in Buzău and Bucharest. On 19 February 1949 he was arrested and sent to the Security Police in Buzău for investigation. After two months of investigation, including physical and psychological pressure, he was transferred to Buzău prison and, from October 1949, to Brașov prison for trial. He was tried in a group with seven other clergymen and sentenced by decision no. 856/1949, for the crime of “failure to denounce a conspiracy against the social order”. From Brasov, the priest was transferred to Aiud prison (February 1950). Until 1953 he worked as a carpenter in the prison’s carpentry workshop. On 22 February 1956, instead of being released, Father Stoicescu was sentenced to 24 months’ compulsory residence in Răchitoasa, which was later extended for the same period. In Răchitoasa he served in the humble little church built by former Banat deportees, together with the priest Gheorghe Tarcea and the priest Dimitrie Bejan as cantor. He took an active part in the life of the community of political prisoners who were trying to build a normal life. He worked as a zootechnical foreman in the bullfighting sector of the GAS Luciu-Giurgeni until April 1958, when he was dismissed. He was re-employed as a foreman-carpenter at the Land Improvement Trust on the Luciu-Giurgeni site. On 20 September 1958, he was again arrested and investigated by the Constanța Securitate for “legionary activity”, together with other comrades from Răchitoasa. He was accused of continuing “legionary activity along mystical lines” through religious activities (celebration of the Holy Mass, baptisms, weddings), participation in various family events and support for some of his suffering brothers. It was all an absurdity orchestrated by the Securitate on the orders of the Party. He was sentenced to 25 years’ hard labour for ‘conspiracy against the social order’ by the Military Tribunal of Constanța in verdict no. 349 of 16 June 1959. He was imprisoned in Constanta (1959), Jilava (October 1959) and Aiud (from February 1960). He was released on 1 August 1964.

(Adrian Nicolae Petcu – Ziarul Lumina, electronic edition of 12 February 2016)