Mother Superior Elisabeta Surpăteanca

Studia Humanitatis No. III (VII) / 2018 Further Details on the History of a Crime (II) Dr. Oana-Mădălina Popescu

This article presents previously unpublished documents from the archives of the Vâlcea Court and the Vâlcea Prefecture concerning the trial of the 16 robbers who attacked the Surpatele Hermitage on the night of 10 September 1839, resulting in the death of Abbess Elisabeta. The article includes the nuns’ petition of 11 September 1839, the judgement of the High Criminal Court of Craiova dated 27 February 1840, and the decree of Prince Alexandru Dimitrie Ghica dated 3 February 1841, by which the death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment.

Litterae No. III (VII) / 2018 The Mother Superior Rev. Dr. Ștefan Zară

Mother Elisaveta, the abbess of Surpatele Monastery, prays in distress following a dream in which she sees the monastery being plundered and her own funeral, wondering whether this revelation is from God or a diabolical deception. Alongside her are depicted the figures of the young Anica, gifted with the talents of psalm-singing and icon-painting, and of Archimandrite Simeon, a devoted ascetic from the community of Dintr-un Lemn Monastery.

Studia Humanitatis No. II (VI) / 2018 Further Details on the History of a Crime (I) Dr. Oana-Mădălina Popescu

The article reconstructs the robbery of the Surpatele Hermitage in Vâlcea County on the night of 10–11 September 1839 and the death of Abbess Elisabeta as a result of the beatings she received at the hands of the seven robbers, by transcribing and commenting on the documents from the ‘Delă atingătoare’ file concerning the robbers who murdered the late Elisabeta Surpăteanca, the abbess, held at the Central National Historical Archives, which reveal the identity of the attackers, their modus operandi and the correspondence between Archimandrite Hrisant of Hurezi, Abbess Platonida and the authorities of Vâlcea County.

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