Marian Advocations of Moldova

In Moldova, a country of Orthodox majority, the small Latin Catholic Church has its center in the Cathedral of the Divine Providence of Chișinău, where the ordinary Marian devotion of the Roman calendar is lived.

History of Marian devotion in Moldova

Moldova, a European country of Christian tradition, has a Marian history that reflects the vicissitudes of its national history. Devotion to the Virgin Mary has been a central element of popular piety, expressed in shrines, hermites and chapels that spatter its geography. Local Marian advocacy is a testimony to a faith that has accompanied the people through the centuries.

Although religious practice has decreased in the last decades, the Marian shrines of Moldova remain places of pilgrimage and spiritual encounter. The Virgin Mary is venerated under various advocacy that reflect both the Latin tradition and the cultural influences of the country.

Marian Advocations of Moldova

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Mary in the land of Bessarabia

Moldova, the Republic between Romania and Ukraine, has a complex religious history marked by the Orthodox majority and the presence of a Latin Catholic minority dating from the 14th century, when genoese traders established colonies in the Dniester region. The Catholic diocese of Chișinău was erected in 2001, although the Catholic presence in the region is much older. The Cathedral of the Divine Providence of Chișinău, built between 1840 and 1843, is the main Catholic temple of the country and a symbol of the perseverance of the Latin faith in a predominantly Orthodox region. During the Soviet period (1940-1991), the cathedral was confiscated by the authorities and turned into a warehouse, but the faithful kept Marian devotion alive in their homes, praying the Rosary in secret.

After the independence of Moldova in 1991, the Catholic Church experienced a rebirth. The cathedral of Divine Providence was restored and returned to worship. The devotion to the Virgin Mary is expressed mainly through the universal aspirations of the Roman calendar, but there is also a special veneration to Our Lady of Fatima, brought by the Portuguese missionaries and by the influence of the Romanian Catholic community. In the town of Căpriana, where a famous Orthodox monastery is located, Catholics also make ecumenical Marian pilgrimages, in a gesture of unity between the two Christian traditions that live together in the country. The feast of the Assumption (August 15) is celebrated by the entire Catholic community with a procession that runs through the streets of Chișinău.

The Catholic presence in Moldova dates back to the 14th century, when genoese traders established colonies in the fortresses of Cetatea Albă (today Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Ukraine) and Tighina (Bender). These merchants brought with them Franciscan missionaries who built the first Latin churches in the region. The devotion to the Virgin Mary was transmitted through the Catholic families that, generation after generation, kept faith alive even during periods of Ottoman, Russian and Soviet domination. The elders of the Catholic community of Chișinău remember that their grandparents hid images of the Virgin in the basements during the Soviet persecution, and secretly removed them to pray the family Rosary.

The Catholic community of Moldova welcomed with great joy the visit of Pope Francis to Romania in 2019, which, although not included Moldova, was a great impulse for the Catholic faith in the region. Many Moldovan faithful travelled to Iași and Bucharest to participate in the papal masses. The Virgin Mary, under the title of Divine Providence, patron of the Cathedral of Chișinău, is considered the special protector of this small Catholic flock in Orthodox land. Every 15 August, the Catholic community of Moldova celebrates the Assumption with a procession that runs through the centre of Chișinău, publicly testifying its faith in a country where Catholics are only 0.5% of the population.