Maricica Cornici

Irina Maricica Cornici (* 1982 ; † June 17, 2005 in Tanacu , Vaslui County , Eastern Romania ) became known as a Romanian nun who died three months after entering the Romanian Orthodox Holy Trinity Monastery during an " expulsion of the devil ".

Irina Maricica Cornici grew up in an orphanage in Arad in western Romania , according to other sources in Deva . She worked as an au pair in Lower Bavaria for two years and is said to have saved 4,000 euros during this time. Three months before her death, she visited a friend in the monastery in Tanacu, near the border with Moldova . She returned shortly to Arad to pick up the 4000 euros that she had deposited with a family friend. The family is said to have invested most of the money, up to 500 euros, in a condominium. Irina returned to Tanacu devastated and entered the monastery there. After a month's stay, doctors at Vaslui Hospital diagnosed the onset of schizophrenia . At the insistence of the nuns, she was released from the hospital by the doctor in charge, Gheorghe Silvestrovici, on condition that she reappear after ten days.

Because of her schizophrenia, she was declared possessed by the devil by the 29-year-old priest and prior Daniel Corogeanu. On June 10, 2005, with the help of four nuns, he cuffed the young woman's arms and legs. When this treatment did not have the hoped-for effect on June 13th either, the priest Maricica Cornici, with the help of the same four nuns, chained them to a cross and gagged them to prevent the “spirit” from expressing itself. She was not given anything to eat or drink and was beaten on a regular basis. On the morning of June 15, 2005, her condition had deteriorated so much from this treatment that an ambulance had to be brought in. Maricica Cornici died on the way to the hospital.

The prior and the four religious sisters were imprisoned at the end of June 2005, but were initially released on July 27, 2005. The public prosecutor Ovidiu Berinde accused the priest of murder and assault. During the interrogation, the five defendants declared themselves innocent and assured that they had acted to prevent harm from the young woman. A press release from the monastery said: “She was sick and possessed. We held masses to drive the evil spirit out of her. From a religious point of view, our actions were perfectly correct. "

On February 20, 2007, Daniel Corogeanu was sentenced to 14 years in prison by a court in Vaslui. The nuns involved also received prison sentences of eight and three times five years. The Orthodox Church stripped Corogeanu of his priesthood and excommunicated the nuns.

The revelations of the circumstances of Maricica Cornici's death sparked a lively debate in Romania about medieval practices apparently endorsed by the Orthodox Church. A large part of the crowd of several hundred that gathered in front of the prison after the arrest of the accused is said to have expressed their solidarity with them.

The Orthodox Church introduced reforms after the events, including psychological tests for people applying to join a monastery.

In 2012 the film Beyond the Hills was released , based on the circumstances of Maricica Cornici's death.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,252760,00.html
2. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/20/international.mainsection

Web links

• Philipp Lichterbeck: Come on the devil , article in Tagesspiegel , July 3, 2005