Last week, Archbishop Ioachim of Roman and Bacău blessed the start of the rehabilitation and extension works of a hospital in Roman, Neamț County, that will be placed under the protection of the Most Holy Theotokos.
On Monday, January 23, fifty members of the work team and officials of the affiliated enterprises attended the blessing service.
“This building has been crucified several times in its history. God, by His providence, with His unseen grace, inspired us to highlight it again,” Archbishop Ioachim said.
“We started the rehabilitation work of this building with prayer, which we offered to God like any Christian who wants to do good in the name of God. When the works are completed, also in the name of God, our work will be blessed by Him and will be counted as a provision of salvation.”
The archbishop praised the vicar Father Pimen Costea, who supervises the rehabilitation project, saying, “We, on behalf of the partners from the Diocesan Center, congratulate you on this beginning and the work you have achieved thus far.”
“Today is a historic day both for the archdiocese and for this building, which has been waiting for rehabilitation for so long,” diocesan vicar Pimen Costea noted.
Three years will pass while the National Investment Company (CNI) as investor and the Archdiocese of Roman and Bacău as beneficiary carry out the construction.
The public hospital next to “Precista Mare” Church in Roman was founded in 1753 by prince Constantin Racoviță and Bishop Ioanichie Hasan of Roman, making it the second-oldest public hospital in Moldavia after the one founded by Metropolitan Anastasie Crimca in Suceava in 1619.
Between 1787 and 1789, the hospital was named “Hospital for the Poor” and was equipped with ten beds and a skilled staff. Bishop Melchisedec Stefănescu of Roman provided a recurrent grant to this institution in the 1870s.
The existing structure of the “Precista” Hospital was constructed in 1872 and is a historical monument. The communist administration confiscated it in 1948 when the institution was disbanded. In 2003, the archdiocese was able to reclaim the property.
Photography courtesy of the Archdiocese of Roman and Bacău
Follow us on Twitter: @BasilicaNews
