The village, Esztelnek is
situated in a beautiful natural surrounding. It was first menioned in 1332 in
the papal tithe record. It is in the north eastern corner of the region formerly
called Kézdiszék, now Covasna county. It is 10 miles (16 km) away from
Kézdivásárhely, near the Eastern Carpathians and Nemere Mountains.
Our Franciscan Monastery in
Esztelnek is under the patronage of St. George. That is unique in Háromszék
county. From its beginning on the 1st of October 1690, it played an important
role in the cultural and religious life of Kézdiszék. It functioned as school
and dormitory, and the first regularly performing theatre of Háromszék county
was built in its garden where the high-school students played school dramas.
Franciscan historian, Fr. József György writes in his book "Franciscans in
Transylvania" that "from 1721 to the very recent times (for nearly
200 years) it rarely occured that this monastery was not a formation house for
novitiates and philosophy students". According to the "Domus
Historia" (the story book of the house), the church of the monsatery was
visited on every first Sunday of the month by pilgrims to ask the patronage of
the Madonna of Esztelnek for their life issues. This famous statue of the
Madonna was carved in 1750.
Our monastery with the
church was
burnt out due to a chimney fire on the 23rd of December 1921. They were able to
rebuild the eastern wing of the quadrat monsatery was rebuilt, because the
walls there were the least injured. Some furniture survived the fire. In the
sacristy a built-in wardrobe and an ornate tallboy remained intact along with
the ancient, scripted wooden beam of the monsatery. The statue of the Madonna
of Esztelnek, that was carved out by a solider from wood as a replica of the
Madonna in Csíksomlyó, also survived. It can now be found in Futásfalva.
Our monastery has been
through a lot from its foundation: it was burnt out, an earthquake shook it,
but with God's help and with the generosity of benevolent people it could
always make it further renewed.
In our time, we experience
the building decaying, because in the past 25-30 years it lacked the necessary
attention and repairing.
We would like to renovate
our monastery with the help of a European Union Tender, so that we could
welcome visitors with a surrounding that fits our age.
In 2015, our tender
application was rejected due to a trite mistake. After they finally accepted
our appeal, we could sign the contracts in May of 2017 that gave a term of 3
years to May of 2020. By that time we have to complete the construction and the
paperwork.
The public procurement
procedure and the arrival of the various permits took 17 months from the 36 we
received. The actual construction work could start just recently, on the 31st
of October 2018.
Please, do not forget to
pray, because until we make our great and bold dream come true, we have plenty
of difficulties to deal with.
One of the greatest obstacle
is financial in nature. From the tender fund we received in 2015 we could have
barely made the construction based on the perviously signed plans. However, in
2019 we are renovating from the same fund, even though the construction costs
are more expensive now than in 2015 when we first estimated the budget.
Moreover, these historical buildings usually have many unexpected surprises
while the construction... This is happened to us many times. These unexpected
adjustments also had significant costs. We feel now that our work is almost
like doing a miracle.
On the other hand, we are
full of hope about the complete renovation of the monastery, because the
founder of our congregation, St. Francis of Assisi said that "the history
is not written by Francis, but by the Almighty God", of course with the
help of many people with good intention.
Therefore, I respectfully
ask all of you: private persons, legal entitites, families, institutions,
corporations, mayor's offices, parishes and people living in and out of our
country to join together helping this good cause depending on our financial
situation. We ask anyone who can support our renovation costs to do it
with an amount depending on one's circumstances.
We ask all of those who do
not have the opportunity to donate to help us with a prayer. Say a prayer that
the work of our renovation could be completed and that in the following years,
decades or centuries this monastery can serve the greater glory of God and the
salvation of the souls.
With hope that my sincere
request will be heard I ask the abundant blessings of God to your family, work
and life,
fr. Szilveszter OFM
Esztelnek, 17. 02. 2019.
Those who would like to help
our situation financially, can do it with the help of the following bank
account numbers. Subject: Renovation of the Monastery in Esztelnek
Name
of our institution:
ORDINUL
FRANCISCANILOR DIN ESTELNIC
Address:
527143 - Estelnic Nr. 163, Romania
Bank
account numbers:
ROMANIAN
LEI account: RO13RNCB0127007532970001
EURO
bank account: RO29RNCB0127007532970004
BIC:
RNCBROBU
NAME
AND ADDRESS OF THE BANKS: BANCA COMERCIALA ROMANA TG Secuiesc
Pta.
Gábor Áron nr. 17 Tg. Secuiesc, Jud. Covasna
Fiscal
registration code (C. I. F.): 14059601
In case of any further
question, please send me an e-mail to frszilveszter@gmail.com.
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