Today (November 9th) on The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink and Mario Ramos-Reyes discuss an extraordinary murder mystery! Virgil Gheorghiu’s La Condottiera is the tale of a heinous crime set amid the terrible suffering of the Romanian people under Communism. Gheorghiu’s language is starkly poetic as he charts the circles of a modern hell. With her translation of this powerful work, Inez Fitzgerald Storck truly contributes to world literature. Two special guests will join her to offer us a “mini seminar.” Iuliu-Marius Morariu, a Romanian Orthodox priest, holds a PhD in Orthodox Theology from Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania (2019) and a PhD in Social Sciences from Rome’s Angelicum Pontifical University (2021). Thierry Gillyboeuf is Gheorghiu’s literary executor and the author Virgil Gheorghiu, l'écrivain calomnié. In 2014 the French Minister of Culture named Gillyboeuf a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in honor of his literary achievements.

Among the questions we will ask our guests are the following.

1. Could you tell us about Virgil Gheorghiu's multifaceted life, especially its early influences?

2. Gheorghiu was deeply attached to Romania, yet left when the Soviets occupied it in 1944. What were the consequences of his self-imposed exile?

3. What led Gheorghiu to become a priest of the Romanian Orthodox Church?

4. What were the various genres encompassed by Gheorghiu's literary work?

5. What type of novels did he write?

6. Can you situate La Condottiera among them? What are its main themes?

7. What character or characters does Gheorghiu show most sympathy for in the novel?

8. What are Gheorghiu's stances towards communism and capitalism in the novel? Are they present in his other work?

9. What makes La Condottiera profoundly religious? How does he integrate its Marian dimension into the novel’s narrative?

10. What was Gheorghiu like as a human being? What does have to say to us today?