Roman Catholic Basilica of St. Anton of Padua

Lily flowers for the Latin spirit of Old Constance: Roman Catholic Basilica of St. Anton of Padua

Nicolae Titulescu Street, narrow and beautifully lined with buildings of all times, abounds in white. People with lilies in their hands head, passing in front of the statue of the Latin poet Ovid, to the imposing place of worship at number 11. It is a holiday at the Roman Catholic Church in Constanța Veche.

St. Anton of Padua, the protector of the Catholics of Constanta, is revered by them.

The day of June 13 gathers the Catholic community in Constanța Veche, and the Latin heritage of the city makes its presence felt.

80 years ago, when Adolf Hitler drew the main directions in search of the Lebensraum (living space) and launched the invitation to all ethnic Germans in Europe to return between the borders of the country, a Catholic German, born in Karamurat (now the commune of Mihail Kogălniceanu), the founder of the beautiful Roman Catholic Church of St. Anton of Padua.

The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century found Dobrogean Catholicism mainly represented in Tulcea County. Thus, the first Roman Catholic Parish in Dobrogea was established in Cataloi (commune located 12 kilometers from Tulcea), in 1886, a village of ethnic Germans and Italians, while the first Italian church was built in 1912 in Greci commune (commune mainly inhabited by Italians at that time, which, by the way, gathers, even today, most of the Italians left in Tulcea County).

The parish priest of Constanța between 1935-1951, the priest Emanoil Kreis founded the Roman Catholic basilica in Constanța and was counted, after 1940, when most of the German community in Dobrogea left at the call of Adolf Hitler, among the 350 ethnic Germans left on the territory between the Danube and the Sea.

He was vicar and parish priest, teacher and high school principal, serving for a time in the curia of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest. In the summer of 1935, he was appointed parish priest and dean (archpriest) of Constanța, a mission he fulfilled until November 1951, and left behind a place of worship that is meant, if necessary, to attests the Latinity of the Romanian people.

The Roman Catholic Church was built in the mid-1930s, also in the heart of Old Constance, in the vicinity of the older Orthodox Cathedrals, Bulgarian Churches or Mosques, although the city was developing rapidly in the north. The Catholics of Constanța did not impress in number, but the Basilica of St. Anton of Padua was a confession embraced by a large part of Europe, and its place close to other places of worship in the Peninsula attests both the importance of the Latinity of Old Constanța and the closure of a confessional octagon. emanate tolerance and multiculturalism.

Built between 1935-1937, according to the plans of the Roman architect Simon de Bucharest, the new basilica of Constanța Vechi definitively, at that time, a plot of history that placed the Constanța Peninsula among the most cosmopolitan areas in Europe, both demographically, as well as confessional.

Being the newest place of worship in Old Constance, the Roman Catholic church carefully followed the architectural features of the Italian Church - Chiesa Italiana - in Bucharest, built between 1915-1916, according to the plans of Italian architect Mario Stoppa, who made it possible Queen Maria's love for the sea to come to life through an architectural jewel: the Royal Palace in Mamaia.

The Roman Catholic Church in Constanța Veche follows the same Romanesque style, similar to the churches in Northern Italy. It is not difficult to understand why. The ethnic Italians who came to Dobrogea come from the Friuli, Veneto and Trentino regions, all three representatives of the North-East of the Italian Peninsula.

The place of worship is made of exposed brick, specific to the Romanesque style of the thirteenth century. Neither on the outside nor on the inside do we see plaster, the beauty of the reddish brick not allowing this. The building was covered with Turkish tiles, later replaced by tiles. The basilica in three shuttles raises its hexagonal dome on the outside on the transept, and the imposing rosette, 7 meters in diameter, defines the beautiful building. A Romanesque tower - bell tower - erected on a square base is distinctly nuanced. The interior is sober, with blind niches and two side galleries supported by columns with composite capitals, a combination of Ionic and Corinthian. The light penetrates through the white windows of the lobes of the huge rosette and impresses with its chiaroscuro effect.

History has not been very friendly with the new Roman Catholic place of worship in Constanța. The lack of funds, the poorly represented Catholic community, but also the cruelty of the Second World War have tested the place of worship countless times.

The simple consecration and the celebration of the first Holy Mass in the new place, in the harsh winter of 1938, found the Roman Catholic church without a floor, without fixed altars and adequate furniture.

The endowment and furnishing works continued for a long time. The altars, the windows and the floor were completed one by one.

But all the work of the Catholics of Constanta in their desire to complete the place where they worshiped St. Anton of Padua every year is wasted by the Second World War. As in the case of the other churches in Constanța Veche, the Soviet raids had no mercy. In the autumn of 1944, the red troops forbade the access of Catholics to the Church of St. Anton of Padua, and the place of worship was vandalized and looted by objects of worship.

The small Catholic community by the sea is forced, immediately after the war years, to start over, to rebuild, which they managed in the late '30s.

The Catholic community regained possession of the church in 1947, at the "mercy" of the Requisition Office of Constanța City Hall and with the approval of the commander of the Soviet occupation troops.

But the degradation of the place of worship continues, the years of communism not being the most favorable for the flowering of the spiritual life by the sea.

By the mid-1980s, bi-serum was in an advanced state of degradation. The modest funds from the state, the small number of parishioners left after the repatriation of ethnic Germans, the state's refusal to provide the necessary aid for recovery, the impoverishment of the population and the repression of the communist regime, at its peak, make it impossible to continue repairs.

The first repairs to the place of worship, after a long sad period for the Catholics of Constanta, marked by the Soviet occupation and the harsh communist regime, take place between 1984-1985, when the altar is made of marble (in the shape of a boat), the windfang (entrance to the church) and the paneling of the presbytery.

The dark years of communism are over, and the democratic period of Constanța has become more friendly with places of worship.

Today, at no. 11 on Nicolae Titulescu Street, you can find a beautiful church, next to a new parish house, built in the first years of post-December democracy in Romania. Moreover, a "Caritas" house is under construction, started in 1996, where a medical office and a reception and distribution center will operate, a sign that Catholic activity in Constanța is not limited to Sunday services. .

A handful of representatives of Catholicism remained in Constanța. Following the 2011 census, Romania's oldest city has 60 Italians and 143 Germans. Along with them, another handful of Romanians, gathered here from all over the country.

But the spiritual community is alive. The Roman Catholic Church in the Peninsula gathers together believers, regardless of ethnicity, who pray to St. Mary and the protector of the Catholics of Constanta, St. Anton of Padua.

Compared to other places of worship in the Peninsula, which will close their doors with the disappearance of the last representative of the community, the Roman Catholic Basilica of Constanța Veche will celebrate, year after year, with white lily flowers, St. Anton of Padua , even if the Italian and German communities will disappear from the old fortress of Tomis. (source: www.info-sud-est.ro )