Romanian Patriarch Daniel stated on Monday during the working session of the Synod of the Metropolis of Muntenia and Dobrudja (Romania maintains the ancient tradition of metropolis with episcopacies within them, with all bishops of a metropolis having their own, metropolitan synod, ed.) that in 2026, which has been declared the Year of Holy Women, sixteen canonizations of nuns and laywomen will be carried out. The same number was also canonized on the occasion of the centenary of the Romanian Patriarchate, but the number was not chosen on purpose, but it turned out that way as a result of the procedures, the patriarch specified.
Patriarch Daniel presented six proposals for canonization received from the archdioceses of Bucharest and of Argeș and Mușel, as well as the Diocese of Dacia Felix, namely: Maria Brancoveanu (1661-1729) – wife of St. Constantine Brancoveanu; Schemamonk Philotea Antonescu († 1833) and Schemamonk Elisaveta Lazar (1970-2014) from the Pasărea Monastery; Nun-martyr Evlogia Cărlea (1908-1949) from the Samurcășeș Monastery; Nun Platonida (1487-1554) with the secular name Despina Milița – wife of St. Voivode Năgoi Basarab; Mandalina (Magdalena) Milenko (1895-1962) – a Christian from the Romanian community in Mălainca, Serbia.
The Patriarch noted that the list of sixteen will include both nuns and married women who have given birth to and raised their children in the faith. The general proclamation of these canonizations will probably take place on the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women. The formation of their lives, liturgical texts and icons is pending.
