Converting to Rome "In Order To Become More Orthodox"

Dr Kmita examines the life of Bld Vladimir Ghika, a Romanian Orthodox aristocrat who converted to Catholicism and was imprisoned by the Reds.

From One Peter Five

By Robert Lazu Kmita, PhD

For those who are familiar with the history of Eastern Europe and Russia, a highly interesting phenomena is that of conversions to Catholicism among members of royal and aristocratic families. For example, one of the witnesses to the official conversion of the philosopher Vladimir Solovyov (1853–1900) was Princess Olga Anatolyevna Gerbel Dolgorukova (1868–1954). Russia, however, had a long line of high-ranking converts. Probably the most notorious name was that of one of the founders of the French theological journal Études, Prince Ivan Sergeyevich Gagarin (1814–1882). He not only converted to Catholicism but also became a priest in the Jesuit order. Naturally, as a diplomat of Tsarist Russia, his conversion caused an enormous scandal. Despite the difficulties faced by believers in Eastern European countries at the hands of members of national schismatic churches, conversions did not cease. Let’s see other examples.

A true political event with many controversial consequences, still debated by historians today, was the conversion of King Sigismund III Vasa of Poland (1566–1632) from Lutheranism to Catholicism. The conversion of the ancient Ruthenian noble family Sheptytsky was associated with the birth of Eastern Catholicism of the Byzantine rite, whose foremost representative was Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky (1865–1944). The list could be extended with many other names. Certainly, however, this is the place for one of the most significant converts from the Romanian aristocracy: Prince Vladimir Ghika (1873–1954).

Beatified on August 31, 2013, in Bucharest, Blessed Vladimir Ghika was one of the Catholic martyrs who died in the terrible Communist prisons of Romania.[1]

An icon of the Blessed from New Liturgical Movement

What is of particular interest is the period preceding his conversion: what led to his final decision? What were the moments and factors that, under the discreet guidance of Holy Providence, culminated in the act of professing the Catholic faith? All this is of special interest, especially since this was, first and foremost, an “intellectual” conversion—that is, a discovery of the true Christian faith based on reading and reflection. The monograph published in the very year of his beatification—2013—offers all the necessary documents to reconstruct this incandescent moment in the life of a saint: Francisca Băltăceanu, Andrei Brezianu, Monica Broșteanu, Emanuel Cosmovici, Luc Verly, Vladimir Ghika, profesor de speranță (Vladimir Ghika, professor of Hope – Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest Publishing House, 2013).[2]

Born on Christmas Day in 1873 in Constantinople, where his father, Ioan Grigore Ghika (1830–1881), was serving in a diplomatic post, young Vladimir showed from an early age not only exceptional intellectual gifts but also pronounced religious inclinations. For example, he experienced a profound sense of wonder at the idea of infinity, discovered during astronomical readings:

The idea of infinity plunged me into reflection and into feelings of boundless admiration: together with the idea of death (which was brought to me by the death of my grandmother in 1879, and then by the terribly painful death of my father in 1881), these two ideas formed the background of my moral life at that time and of the life of my younger brother, with whom the community of ideas was very close. Shortly before my father’s death, I had inaugurated a childish prayer—unfortunately soon abandoned—asking God to make my parents eternal; then, thinking it through more carefully, to make everyone eternal from the moment of that prayer.

For a boy of seven or eight years old, such thoughts are signs of an exceptional missionary vocation, animated by the desire to offer access to eternal life to as many souls as possible. Regarding the same period of childhood, notes have been found mentioning the experience of an intense feeling of the divine presence. All these manifestations of a certain vocation accompanied the precocious intellectual qualities of young Vladimir. Raised by his Orthodox mother, who read with interest the works of Bossuet and the famous The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, he absorbed a diffuse spirituality that would later bear fruit. One cannot help but note that this inclination among part of the Romanian political and cultural elites toward Catholicism can be found in other personalities as well.

From 1884 he pursued his secondary studies in France, in Toulouse, where he attended Protestant religious services that left him indifferent. He focused on his studies, although, inexplicably, an inner impulse was guiding him toward Catholicism. Here is what he noted in an autobiographical text from 1901–1902:

I never lived in a Catholic environment; in this respect, the influence was initially limited strictly to books which, starting in 1888, entered our home in large numbers, thanks to a library subscription our mother arranged for my brother and me.

Thus, the beneficial influence of good Catholic books deserves to be highlighted—readings that can influence both the mind and the heart of the reader. In this regard, Vladimir mentioned in 1889 “numerous readings from Catholic authors.” It is therefore not surprising that in another brief note, associated with the year 1891, he mentions “frequenting, without great devotion but with much respect, Catholic churches.” During the same period, the idea of a modern apologetics of Christianity was born—confirming, if further confirmation were needed, his missionary vocation.

After a short and very unpleasant stay in Bucharest between 1895 and 1897, he returned to France, where he rediscovered—as he himself put it—“sound reading, places of prayer.” When he discovered the persecution to which Catholics were subjected in their own country, now prey to the revolutionary spirit unleashed in 1789, Vladimir Ghika developed an increasingly broad and deep sympathy for the Catholic Church. What must again be emphasized is that the dynamics of his conversion involved no individual who served as a personal model for him. Only his own readings and meditations led him toward the terminus of his journey. In the same autobiographical text from 1901–1902 cited above, he already uses words marked by an almost irrepressible emotion:

I desperately regret that I was not born in the Catholic faith and that, while waiting for an entry into it—which at that time seemed to me in fact impossible—I had so little help to reach it.

His inner turmoil was also due to the fact that in Romania his pro-Catholicism had not gone unnoticed. The press attacked him violently, accusing him of being a “traitor to the nation and an apostate from the religion of his ancestors.” In practice, those who attacked him had already perceived what he himself did not yet fully realize: he had slowly become Catholic. A period spent in Rome, beginning in 1898, would culminate in the formal and official act of reception into the Catholic Church.

Up to this crossroads in Prince Vladimir Ghika’s life, there are several other facts that must be recorded. First of all, a profound understanding of the irreplaceable and non-substitutable value of papal authority, about which he speaks in an article published on the occasion of the celebration of the 25th year of Pope Leo XIII’s pontificate:

In the incoherent tumult of ideas that all claim to be equal to one another, and of words that each person appropriates according to taste, amid this annihilation of ‘values’ that characterizes modern times, the Papacy can preserve more securely than anyone else the stability of the words of Eternal Life and, on the other hand, make them penetrate—like secondary instructions, like effective advice—into the conduct of humanity.[3]

Practically, the entire article is a true profession of Christian faith, in which all the principles upheld by the Roman Catholic Church are fully embraced. And, of course, the primacy and infallibility of the successors of Peter are explicitly or implicitly affirmed. The author, Prince Vladimir Ghika, was already Catholic in mind and heart.

Before the final step, two other moments foreshadowed what was to come. They were recounted by Prince Vladimir himself when he was asked by Agenor Danciul, another Catholic convert, why he had become Catholic. The first took place in the Catholic church where young Vladimir went daily. Each time the moment for receiving Holy Communion arrived, he would kneel—so as to be closer to the Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament—at the communion rail. But since he was not formally Catholic, he would withdraw whenever the priest approached. Once, however, the priest came more quickly, firmly intending to give him Communion. He held the host in his hand and extended it toward Vladimir. Surprised, he stepped back. The priest remained frozen for a moment, then moved on to the next faithful. After this incident, his conscience reproached him:

Jesus came to me to give Himself to me, and I refused Him.

Realizing that he believed everything the Catholic Church believed, he took the final step toward full conversion. Before this moment, a casual conversation had given him another signal: his interlocutor was convinced he was speaking with a Catholic. As already mentioned, well before the final step, Prince Vladimir Ghika was already converted in mind and heart. The end foreseen by Holy Providence was thus fulfilled in Rome. Here is the description—perhaps too simple and formal, yet so moving—of this extraordinary moment:

I made my profession of the Catholic faith on April 15, 1902, in Rome, at Santa Sabina,[4] in the room of Saint Dominic, before the Most Reverend Father Lepidi, O.P., Master of the Sacred Palace, in the presence of His Eminence Cardinal Frühwirth, the Most Reverend Father Emmanuel Bailly, Superior General of the Augustinians, and Monsieur François Paris.

In several texts and testimonies concerning Prince Ghika’s conversion, it is recounted that whenever he was asked—especially in Romania—why he had become Catholic, he would answer “in order to become more Orthodox.” Evidently, this response pointed on the one hand to the incompleteness and errors of Eastern Christianity. On the other hand, it delicately but firmly emphasized the completeness of Christian faith, which is found in its entirety only in the Catholic Church. With this conviction, the new convert committed himself to a missionary work worthy of a true apostle.

Given his rank, it is not surprising that both he and his family had access to the Holy Father. Thus, a little more than a year after his official reception into the Catholic Church, the prince was received in audience by Saint Pius X. He revealed to the Supreme Pontiff—seeking his counsel—his intention to become a priest in order to devote himself completely to the work of conversion and the salvation of souls. Despite his zeal, the Holy Father decided otherwise. With rare visionary capacity, Pius X advised him instead to remain a simple layman and to act as a Catholic missionary in that capacity. The pontiff was clearly aware that in France of those years, when anti-clerical persecution had not abated, a priest’s cassock could close many doors. A prince, on the other hand—an individual with numerous political connections in the highest circles of the world’s elite—could play an extraordinary role. And indeed, this is exactly what would happen.

Taking seriously the advice of Saint Pius X, Vladimir Ghika postponed his intention to become a priest. Moreover, the Catholic Archbishop of Bucharest, Raymund Netzhammer, recalls in his memoirs that Saint Pius X recommended that Prince Vladimir Ghika act as a layman, since in this way he could serve the Church better. For 21 years, from 1902 to 1923, Ghika would fully demonstrate the measure of an exceptional vocation. Saint Pius X had perfectly understood both the capacity of an aristocrat to act as a true leader under the most difficult conditions and the need for a period of maturation and testing. The pontifical wisdom, received with the humility of obedience by the converted prince, would later bear fruits that clearly proved its foresight.

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[1] See my article “An Aristocratic Convert: Blessed Prince Vladimir Ghika:” https://kmitalibrary.substack.com/p/an-aristocratic-convert-blessed-prince [Accessed: 07 December 2025].

[2] All quotes are extracted from this reference work which, of all I have read so far, contains the greatest wealth of sources and documents regarding the life of Blessed Vladimir Ghika.

[3] Vladimir Ghika, “Le Trois Mars,” in Le Monde Catholique, 15 mars 1902, pp. 129-133. The original text, in French, is available online here: https://www.vladimirghika.ro/catholique-roumain-prince-ghika/ [Accessed: 07 December 2025].

[4] This is the Basilica of Saint Sabina (Basilica Sanctae Sabinae; Basilica di Santa Sabina all’Aventino) –a historic church on the Aventine Hill in Rome, Italy. In 1220, Pope Honorius III invited Saint Dominic to take up residence at this church.