Cloud of Witnesses
Righteous19th century

Saint Anastasia Șaguna

1785–1836

Also known as Anastasia Saguna · Anastasia, mother of St Andrei Șaguna

Mother of Andrei Șaguna, the metropolitan of Transylvania. When her husband turned Catholic for the sake of his trade and the authorities put her children under a Catholic guardian, she fought them for years, hid the children with her uncle in Pest, and raised all three back to Orthodoxy.

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Life

Anastasia Șaguna (1785–1836) was a laywoman of the Habsburg lands and the mother of Andrei Șaguna, the metropolitan of Transylvania. Born in 1785 into an Aromanian family settled in the empire, she married Naum Șaguna and bore three children: a son, Evreta; a daughter, Ecaterina, born in 1806; and a second son, Anastasiu — later Andrei — born at Miskolc on 20 December 1808.

When her husband converted to Catholicism for material and social advantage, and the authorities consequently placed the children under Catholic guardianship, Anastasia contested the arrangement for years. Compelled to relocate to Miskolc under official supervision, she secretly entrusted the children to her uncle Atanasie Grabovski, a merchant in Pest, where they attended a Greek school and a Greco-Romanian church, and in 1816 she travelled to Vienna to seek the emperor's intervention in the custody dispute.

Although the official guardianship stood, she continued to shape her children's formation at home and through church attendance, and all three as adults declared their wish to return to Orthodoxy. She reposed in January 1836, aged fifty-one, and was buried on 17 January in the Grabovski family crypt at the Kerepesi cemetery in Pest. The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church numbered her among sixteen women of holy life on 1 July 2025, appointing her commemoration on 1 December.

Timeline11 momentsReadHide
  1. 1785BirthBorn into an Aromanian family settled in the Habsburg lands.
  2. c. 1800sMarriage to Naum ȘagunaMarried young; the couple's eldest son was Evreta.
  3. 1806Birth of her daughter EcaterinaThe second of her three children.
  4. 20 December 1808Birth of Anastasiu Șaguna at MiskolcHer younger son, later the metropolitan Andrei Șaguna, glorified by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 2011.
  5. Early 19th centuryHer husband's conversion to CatholicismNaum Șaguna converted for material and social reasons; Anastasia resisted, to protect the children's Orthodox upbringing.
  6. Following the conversionCustody and forced relocationThe children were placed under a Catholic guardian and Anastasia was required to move to Miskolc under Catholic supervision.
  7. During the custody disputeThe children hidden in PestShe secretly placed them with her uncle Atanasie Grabovski, a merchant in Pest, where they attended a Greek school and a Greco-Romanian church.
  8. 1816Journey to ViennaShe travelled to Vienna to seek the emperor's intervention in the custody matter.
  9. January 1836Repose at the age of fifty-oneBuried on 17 January in the Grabovski family crypt at the Kerepesi cemetery in Pest.
  10. 1 July 2025Canonization by the Holy SynodNumbered among sixteen women of holy life by the Romanian Orthodox Church, with her feast set on 1 December.
  11. 6 February 2026Proclamation in BucharestThe canonization was proclaimed at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest; a local ceremony was planned for the autumn at Sibiu.

Contributions & Legacy

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A Household Divided by Confession

The Șaguna household stood at a point of confessional pressure. Naum Șaguna's conversion to Catholicism is recorded as having been undertaken for material and social reasons rather than conviction.

The consequence fell on the children. Under the arrangements that followed, they were placed in the care of a Catholic guardian and Anastasia herself was required to move to Miskolc under Catholic supervision. She resisted the arrangement rather than accepting it, and the dispute occupied years of her life.

The Children in Pest

Working around the official custody, Anastasia placed the three children with her uncle Atanasie Grabovski, a merchant in Pest. There they attended a Greek school and a Greco-Romanian ('greco-valah') church, so that their schooling and their worship alike remained within the Orthodox milieu their father had left.

In 1816 she went to Vienna to petition for the emperor's intervention in the custody question. The official arrangement was not overturned, but her influence over the children's formation was not broken by it: she continued to give them instruction in the faith at home and to see that they attended church. All three, on reaching adulthood, declared their wish to return to Orthodoxy.

Legacy

Her second son, born Anastasiu and known in the Church as Andrei Șaguna, became metropolitan of Transylvania and was glorified by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 2011. Metropolitan Laurențiu of Ardeal has described his mother as having formed the spiritual foundation of her son through faithful Orthodox practice, transmitting to him faith and education at a time when religious fidelity was tested, and cultivating in him love for the Church, for prayer, and for truth.

The same account calls her the icon of a faithful mother — one whose spiritual legacy was achieved without any pursuit of recognition. It is in this character that the Romanian Church numbered her among the mothers of saints.

Canonization

On 1 July 2025 the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, meeting in the Aula Magna 'Teoctist Patriarhul' of the Patriarchal Palace under the presidency of Patriarch Daniel, resolved to canonize sixteen women of holy life. The group spanned martyrs, nuns, wives of rulers, mothers of saints, and confessors; Anastasia Șaguna stands in the category of the mothers of saints.

The title conferred is 'Sfânta Anastasia Șaguna, mama Sfântului Ierarh Andrei Șaguna' — Saint Anastasia Șaguna, mother of Saint Hierarch Andrei Șaguna — with her feast fixed on 1 December. The general proclamation of the canonization took place at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest on 6 February 2026, with a local canonization ceremony planned for the autumn at Sibiu.

Relics & Shrines

Anastasia was buried on 17 January 1836 in the Grabovski family crypt at the Kerepesi cemetery in Pest.

Sources: Romanian Patriarchate communique, canonization of 16 women of holy life (1 July 2025); Basilica.ro; Doxologia.ro; Mystagogy Resource Center