The relics of newly canonised Saint Blandina of Iași were exhumed on Wednesday at Eternitatea Cemetery in Iași, in a solemn rite ahead of the local proclamation of her canonisation.
The service was led by Bishop Veniamin of Southern Bessarabia and the Iași Archdiocese’s Assistant Bishop Nichifor of Botoșani.
The relics were then placed in the Old Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint George, where the rites traditionally associated with the exhumation of saints continued.
“She knew people’s weaknesses”
In remarks after the service, Bishop Veniamin highlighted the saint’s life of hardship and spiritual steadfastness.
“Very often, Saint Blandina was the one encouraging others. She had endured many hardships and knew human weakness. She strove to help people, collected aid for large families and those in very difficult situations, and people trusted her deeply, entrusting her with prayer requests,” he said.
“We pray that God may receive our love and guide our steps through life so that, like Saint Blandina the Confessor, we may remain steadfast in faith in every circumstance,” he added.
Life of suffering and witness
Saint Blandina of Iași was born on Feb. 24, 1906, in the village of Grușeuți, in Bessarabia, into a priest’s family.
After training as a teacher, she married engineer Gheorghe Gobjilă in 1926, and they had a son. Following the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia in 1940, the family was deported to Siberia, where they endured 15 years of suffering.
She reached Romania in 1957. After being forced by her son and daughter-in-law to choose between family and faith, she chose faith, was left homeless and eventually found refuge in Iași with a Christian family.
She became a quiet but constant presence at Iași’s Metropolitan Cathedral, devoting herself to prayer, translating and copying akathists, and helping those in need. She reposed on May 24, 1971.
Canonisation proclamation ahead
Saint Blandina was canonised by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church in July 2025 together with 15 other Romanian women saints. Their general proclamation of canonisation took place on Feb. 6 this year at the Patriarchal Cathedral.
The local proclamation of Saint Blandina’s canonisation is scheduled for May 17 in Iași and May 23 in Chișinău.
Photo: Doxologia / Fr. Silviu Cluci
