Activitatea social-filantropică în Țara Românească în vremea Sfântului Domn-Martir Constantin Brâcoveanu și a urmașilor săi

Abstract

Social and philanthropic work represented a priority for Saint Constantine Brâncoveanu and his family. His involvement in this activity was not an occasional or contextual one, but one to which he has paid particular attention, in which he put a lot of heart and invested much of his fortune. Being a good son of the Church, Saint Constantine carried out a significant social activity, springing from his unshaken faith and his passionate love for God and his fellows. Thus, in addition to creating and sustaining infirmaries (Bistriţa, Hurezi, Brâncoveni etc.), he “traditionally” gave away the clothing and footwear to the poor, also by supporting the printing activities in an unparalled way until then, he conducted a “cultural philanthropy” that went far beyond the country’s borders, being present and very helpful in Transylvania, Syria and Georgia. His example was so powerful that even his contemporaries (the Metropolitan Antim of Iberia and Constantine Cantacuzino) were influenced, the first one leaving a “Settlement” which contained various provisions for his social and philanthropic work, the Monastery of All Saints, and the latter laying the foundation of the Colţea Hospital from Bucharest. Moreover, his daughter, Princess Bălaşa left much of her fortune to the church, the house of foreigners and the asylum that will bear her name, as Safta Brâncoveanu, Gregory Brâncoveanu’s wife, will found one of the largest and most popular hospitals in the capital, the Brâncovenian Hospital.