Sita Buzăului Monastery

Franciscan monks, in the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi, accept the entire created reality - including their brothers, sisters, and themselves - as a gift from God. For them, fraternal life is not a theory or ideology, but a way of living in which they learn to love, to sacrifice, to give, and to share what they have, never considering themselves superior to their fellow human beings. 🙏🤲 Members of the Order of Friars Minor (commonly called the Franciscans), founded by Saint Francis of Assisi in 1209, arrived in Transylvania via Germany and Hungary between 1240-1250, first settling in Banská Bystrica, Sibiu, and Târgu Mureș.  The first Franciscan monks arrived in Esztergom in 1677. In the upper part of the village of Estelnic, there was already a chapel dedicated to Saint George, next to which a wooden monastery was built. It was blessed on October 1st 1690. The church next to the monastery was constructed between 1710-1729, using elements from the old chapel - likely the sanctuary. The stone monastery was completed in 1750. ⛪  On the night of December 23rd 1921, the monastery and church were destroyed by fire. Almost everything was consumed by the flames. In 1926, a church-school was built on the site of the former monastery, where classes were held during the week and religious services took place on Sundays. ✏️ 🙏🏻 📿 Another tragic chapter in the life of the monastery - not just in Estelnic - occurred on the night of August 20th 1951, when the friars living there were deported to the monastery in Radna by order of the Romanian Communist Party. From the original monastery, only a few elements remain today: the double sacristy, a built-in wall cabinet, the ornamented sacristy cupboard, the less remarkable eastern wing walls, and the carved beam that confirms the monastery’s year of founding. We invite you to visit the Franciscan monastery in Estelnic! Brother Szilveszter (Sylvester) will be happy to tell you all about the recently renovated monastery, the church and their vocation. 📍 Please contact us in advance to arrange a visit. 📆 In addition to Estelnic, Franciscan monasteries can also be found in Transylvania in the fallowing cities or towns: Brașov, Șumuleu-Ciuc, Dej, Deva, Lăzarea, Căpleni, Cluj-Napoca, Sebeș, and Odorheiu Secuiesc.

The Orthodox monastery church was built between 1992 and 2002. The monastery complex consists of a church, a summer altar and a chapel building. The foundation stone of the church was laid in 1992 by His Grace Serafim Joantă, then Bishop Vicar of Sibiu. The mural was painted by the artist Ovidiu Preotescu. In 2001, the "St Iustina Welfare Association" was founded and the construction of a building for abandoned children began, which was opened in 2003, when 10 girls aged 3-10 months were brought from the Brasov orphanage. In 2004, the wooden fence surrounding the monastery was built. The first priest to serve in the convent was Gheorghe Moldovan, a priest from Prejmer. Text source: http://www.episcopiacvhr.ro/manastiri-si-schituri/manastirea-marcus/

The Valea Mare Monastery in Covasna County was founded in 1998. His Eminence Bishop Ioan Selejan consecrated the site of the future monastery on 10 September 2000. The first building of the monastery complex is a small wooden church, built in the maramureșean style. The foundation works for the other buildings, the chapel, the cloister and the main chapel, the winter chapel and the large church, as envisaged in the plan drawn up by the architects Dan Corneliu and Ioan Teodor, began in 2000 and were largely completed in 2004.  Between 2004 and 2009, construction and finishing works continued: the external facades of the new buildings, the installation of marble in the large church, the electrical, sanitary and heating installations, the paving of the alleys leading to the church and the access roads, the installation of the chapels in the parishes and the archdeaconry kitchens for pilgrims, the construction of two ponds and other domestic outbuildings. Between 2008 and 2009, painting work was carried out in the chapel dedicated to St George, with Byzantine-style frescoes, and in June 2009, work began on the main church dedicated to the Nativity of St John the Baptist. Text source: http://www.episcopiacvhr.ro/manastiri-si-schituri/manastirea-valea-mare/