Posted by In June 2005, at the Orthodox monastery of Tanacu in Romania, 23-year-old Maricica Irina Cornici, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was subjected to an exorcism: tied to a cross for three days, gagged and without food or water, she died shortly afterwards. The priest Daniel Corogeanu and four nuns were convicted. The case inspired the film “Beyond the Hills”.
Maricica Irina Cornici was a 23-year-old woman who in 2005 was subjected to an exorcism. The rite was too harsh, and she died shortly after being tied to a cross for days at the monastery of Tanacu, in Vaslui County, Romania.
Maricica Irina Cornici
Maricica was born in 1982, but did not have an easy childhood. Her father took his own life when she was very young, and social workers decided to place her and her older brother, Vasile, in an orphanage.
When Vasile was 16 he was taken in, along with other boys, by a family that owned a farm, probably to be used as labourers.
Irina went to high school and, after graduating, decided to go to Germany to work as a nanny to save some money. Her goal was to earn a small salary in euros to put aside to buy a flat in Romania.
She went back and forth to Germany four times, each time staying a few months, and managed to save about 4,000 euros. Another 1,000 and she could buy a small flat in the village where she grew up.
During this time Irina grew closer to her brother again and, when she came back from Germany, went to live with him and the family that had taken him in.
The decision to become a nun
In January 2005 the young woman suddenly decided to become a nun. The decision took everyone by surprise. She had never talked about it before, and some might think she was pressured into it.
Ionel Bratianu, a social worker who had known Irina since they were both in the orphanage and who now lived at the monastery, told her not to do it.
The crises
Irina thought it over and in April 2005 went back to the monastery with her brother Vasile. On 9 April she had a crisis and was taken to hospital, where she stayed until 24 April. She was diagnosed with incipient schizophrenia and prescribed medication.
She recovered completely and went back to the monastery intending to become a nun, but Father Daniel would not allow it: in his view she was not ready.
On 9 June 2005 Irina had another crisis: she was agitated and shouted swear words and obscenities.
The exorcism
According to the priest and nuns of the monastery, Irina was possessed by the devil. She shouted obscenities in the house of the Lord and refused to drink holy water. In their view this was because she had not confessed all her sins, and the devil had taken hold of her. So a rite was needed to drive out the demon possessing her.
To stop her from thrashing about and hurting herself, the nuns tied her hands and feet and locked her in her room. A few days later they chained her to a cross, arms outstretched, and carried her into the church. They put a towel in her mouth so she would not say obscenities, anointed her wrists and forehead with holy oil and wet her lips with holy water, praying to cast out the devil. She stayed like that for three days, without food or drink.
In the end they took her back to her room and untied her: according to Father Daniel, she was “cured”. They gave her bread and tea, but right after eating Irina fainted. The nuns could not wake her and called an ambulance. On 15 June 2005 she was declared dead.
According to the prosecution she died of dehydration, exhaustion and lack of oxygen. The coroner Dan Gheorghiu, however, always maintained that she was killed by an overdose of adrenaline given in the ambulance.
The exorcism was carried out by Father Daniel Petru Corogeanu, 29, and four nuns. At the monastery they were sorry about Irina’s death, but could not see what else they could have done to save her. She was not ill, but possessed, and according to Scripture an exorcism was the only thing to do. You cannot, in their view, defeat the devil with pills.
The arrests
The priest and the nuns who performed the exorcism were arrested after hospital staff noticed the marks on Irina’s wrists and ankles. They were charged with aggravated murder, but maintained their innocence.
The Romanian Orthodox Church condemned the episode as “abominable”, closed the monastery and excommunicated the priest and the nuns responsible.
After a long trial Father Daniel was sentenced on appeal to 7 years in prison, one of the nuns to 6 years and the other three to 5 years. Many residents of Tanacu, including Irina’s brother, remained convinced the young woman really was possessed.
The writer Tatiana Niculescu Bran wrote books inspired by the case, on which the 2012 film “Beyond the Hills” was based.
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