Romanian Masons

Ion Ghica (August 12, 1816-May 7, 1897) was a Romanian revolutionary, mathematician, diplomat and twice Prime Minister of Romania (between 1866 and 1867, and between 1870 and 1871). He was a full member of the Romanian Academy and its president for four times (1876-1882, 1884-1887, 1890-1893 and 1894-1895). He was the older brother and associate of Pantazi Ghica, a prolific writer and politician.

After finishing his studies in Paris, he left for Moldavia and was involved in the Francmasonic Fratia ("Brotherhood") conspiracy of 1848, which was intended to bring about the union of Wallachia and Moldavia under one native Romanian leader, Prince Mihai Sturdza. Ion Ghica became a lecturer on mathematics at the Academy which was founded by the same Prince Sturdza in Iasi (future University of Iasi).

Ion Heliade Radulescu (also known as Eliad or Eliade Radulescu; January 6, 1802-April 27, 1872) was a Wallachian-born Romanian academic, Romantic and Classicist poet, essayist, memoirist, short story writer, newspaper editor, politician and Freemason. A prolific translator of foreign literature into Romanian, he was also the author of books on linguistics and history. For much of his life, Heliade Radulescu was a teacher at Saint Sava College in Bucharest, which he helped reopen. He was a founding member and first president of the Romanian Academy.

Heliade Radulescu is considered one of the foremost champions of Romanian culture from the first half of the 19th century, having first risen to prominence through his association with Gheorghe Lazar and his support of Lazar's drive for discontinuing education in Greek. Over the following decades, he had a major role in shaping the modern Romanian language, but caused controversy when he advocated the massive introduction of Italian neologisms into the Romanian lexis.

Ion Minulescu (January 6, 1881 - April 11, 1944) was a Romanian avant-garde poet, novelist, short story writer, journalist, literary critic, playwright and Mason. Often publishing his works under the pseudonyms I. M. Nirvan and Koh-i-Noor (the latter being derived from the famous diamond), he journeyed to Paris, where he was heavily influenced by the growing Symbolist movement and Parisian Bohemianism. He had a major influence on modern literature in Romania, and was among the first local poets to use free verse.

Born in Bucharest to the widow Alexandrina Ciuca (the daughter of a shoemaker in Slatina, she was 20 at the time), he was the posthumous child of Tudor Minulescu (a leather salesman who had died on New Year's Eve, probably as a result of a stroke). Originally, Minulescu was meant to be born in Slatina, but bad weather prevented his mother from leaving the capital city. Adopted by Ion Constantinescu, a Romanian Army officer who married Alexandrina Ciuca, he lived much of his childhood in Slatina and completed his primary and most of his medium studies in Pitesti at Ion Bratianu High School. He was a colleague of Al. Gherghel, who would also become known as a Symbolist writer: the two edited the school magazine Luceafarul, which only published a few issues before being closed down by the headmaster.

Mihail Kogalniceanu (September 6, 1817 - July 1, 1891) was a Moldavian-born Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian, publicist and Freemason.

He became Prime Minister of Romania October 11, 1863, after the 1859 union of the Danubian Principalities under Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, and later served as Foreign Minister under Carol I. He was several times Interior Minister under Cuza and Carol. A polymath, Kogalniceanu was one of the most influential Romanian intellectuals of his generation. Siding with the moderate liberal current for most of his lifetime, he began his political career as a collaborator of Prince Mihail Sturdza, while serving as head of the Iasi Theater and issuing several publications together with the poet Vasile Alecsandri and the activist Ion Ghica. After editing the highly influential magazine Dacia Literara and serving as a professor at Academia Mihaileana, Kogalniceanu came into conflict with the authorities over his Romantic nationalist inaugural speech of 1843. He was the ideologue of the abortive 1848 Moldavian revolution, authoring its main document, Dorintele partidei nationale din Moldova.

Mihail Sadoveanu (occasionally referred to as Mihai Sadoveanu; November 5, 1880 - October 19, 1961) was a Romanian Freemason, novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure, who twice served as acting republican head of state under the communist regime (1947-1948 and 1958). He was elected Grand Master in 1932. One of the most prolific Romanian-language writers, he is remembered mostly for his historical and adventure novels, as well as for his nature writing. An author whose career spanned five decades, Sadoveanu was an early associate of the traditionalist magazine Samanatorul, before becoming known as a Realist writer and an adherent to the Poporanist current represented by Viata Romaneasca journal.

Miron Cristea (monastic name of Elie Cristea; July 20, 1868-March 6, 1939) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian cleric, politician and Freemason.

A bishop in Hungarian-ruled Transylvania, Cristea was elected Metropolitan-Primate of the Orthodox Church of the newly unified Greater Romania in 1919. As the Church was raised to a rank of Patriarchy, Miron Cristea was enthroned as the first Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1925.

Nicolae Balcescu (June 29, 1819 - November 29, 1852) was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, Freemason and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.

Born in Bucharest to a family of low-ranking nobility, he used his mother's maiden name, in place of his father's name, Petrescu (his mother was originally from Balcesti, Valcea County) now, then Arges County. His siblings were Costache, Barbu, Sevasta and Marghioala, and his father died in 1824.

Nicolae Titulescu (March 4, 1882, Craiova - March 17, 1941, Cannes) was a well-known Romanian diplomat, at various times government minister, finance and foreign minister, and for two terms President of the General Assembly of the League of Nations (1930-32). He was a member of the Freemasonry.

Nicolae Titulescu was born in Craiova to a solicitor. He passed through his childhood at his father's estate in Titulesti, Olt County. Upon graduating with honours in 1900 from the Carol I High School in Craiova, he studied law in Paris, obtaining his doctorate with the thesis Essai sur une théorie des droits éventuels. In 1905, Titulescu returned to Romania as a professor of law at the University of Iasi, and in 1907 he moved to Bucharest.

Octavian Goga (April 1, 1881-May 7, 1938) was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.

Born in Rasinari, nearby Sibiu, he was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party (PNR) in Austria-Hungary. Before World War I, Goga was arrested by the Hungarian authorities. At different intervals, until the union of Romania and Transylvania in 1918, Goga took refuge in Romania, becoming active in literary and political circles. Because of his political activity in Romania, the Hungarian state sentenced him to death in absentia.

Samuel von Brukenthal (1721, Nocrich - 1803, Sibiu) was the Habsburg governor of the Grand Principality of Transylvania between July 6, 1774 and January 9, 1787. He was a baron of the Holy Roman Empire, and personal advisor of Empress Maria Theresia.

His home, a large palace in Sibiu, is currently home to the Brukenthal National Museum (formed around the collections he gathered, and expanded from a public exhibit first opened in 1817).