Not far from the center of Piatra-Neamt, Stefan cel Mare Street still carries a faint echo of yesteryear's nobility. A commemorative plaque on one of its houses is a discreet reminder that this is where Elena Cuza - the wife of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza and the woman whom people, with deep affection, called 'the mother of the poor' - lived the last part of her life.

Her life was woven from countless acts of charity: donations to hospitals, help for the needy, scholarships for young students. Yet one gesture remains especially meaningful for Piatra-Neamt: the donation of the first surgical kit in the history of the local hospital, a gift that laid the foundation of its surgical department.

To understand how this moment came to be, we must look back to 1895, when Lady Elena chose to settle in Piatra-Neamt.

Dr. Mihaela-Cristina Verzea, scientific director of the Neamt National Museum Complex, who studied the archives and created an updated monograph about the princess, explains that she arrived here for sentimental reasons. According to a 1936 monograph by Lucia Bors, Cuza himself had been warmly welcomed in the city in 1863, an experience he remembered fondly. Out of loyalty to that memory, Elena Cuza sought a home in the same place.

Because she owned no property in the city, she entrusted engineer Ion Bacalu to purchase one in her name. She lived in Piatra-Neamt from 1895 until 1901, when political slander in Parliament against her late husband drove her to leave for Geneva.

'In 1902, a passport was issued in her name and she left for Geneva, accompanied by a governess. She would stay there until 1904 when she returned to Piatra-Neamt, in the house of spouses Ion and Henrieta Bacalu, where she paid rent,' explained Verzea. Lady Elena remained here until her death on April 2, 1909.

A few months before passing, on January 24, 1909, she received a deeply moving visit from historian Nicolae Iorga, who had come for the semi-centennial of the Union of the Romanian Principalities. In his volume People Who Were, Iorga later described her frail with age, yet highly dignified. Unable to write, Lady Elena sent him on February 28 a letter of thanks dictated to Dr. Petru Flor, calling him 'a very good Romanian'.

The princess's presence in the city was scarcely mentioned by the press of the time, though postcards circulated depicting 'the villa of Lady Cuza'. Archival newspapers rarely noted her stay, yet her quiet influence was far greater than the headlines suggested.

'I researched to see what the local press wrote about the princess's presence. In the archives, I found the newspaper 'Corespondenta Provinciala', a publication that had been appearing since 1870. I located an issue from 1889, forty years after the Union of the Romanian Principalities, which contained only one article noting that, unfortunately, in Piatra-Neamt not even a Te Deum had been celebrated on that occasion, and there was no mention of Elena Cuza's presence in the city. In the 'Corespondenta Provinciala' issue of July 30, 1898, I found an article listing the people present at the spa in the Oglinzi resort. Alongside the entire Piatra-Neamt high society, there is also a mention of Lady Elena Cuza, who was accompanied by two close attendants,' the researcher reported.

Yet perhaps her most enduring legacy in Piatra-Neamt remains her support for the local hospital, founded in 1863 during Cuza's reign. Journalist Vespasian Pella recorded that she lived on a generous annuity of 120,000 lei, of which she kept only a small portion for herself, directing the rest toward hospitals, scholarships, and aid for the elderly. In 1908 she purchased the hospital's first surgical kit, requesting that a plaque be placed at the facility in memory of Prince Cuza.

Here is what doctor Socrat Lalu wrote on this subject to surgeon Ion Balcescu: 'From one parenthesis to another, my dear Balacescu, for it is a pious duty for me to confess to you and to declare before all our people that the surgical service of the distressed hospital in Piatra-Neamt could not have been founded, could not have been created - it would be more correct to say so - without the great kindness, full of compassion for those in suffering, and the deep love for the needy population as well as for our entire country of the Holy Princess Elena Cuza. For that is what she is called here, and with this name should she go down in the history of the Romanian nation! Holy Princess Elena Cuza ... may her name be forever glorified! For she did much good in her painful and noble life. Princess Elena Cuza was a martyr - therefore a true saint of our nation. As for the matter I wish to tell you about, the Holy Princess placed in my hands, once 10,000 lei, then 2,000, and on another occasion another 2,000 lei, plus a few hundred lei for customs and transport - money entrusted to Dr. Iernici - so that we could purchase what is mentioned on the commemorative marble plaque, which still stands in this former hospital.'

Photo credit: Gabriel Apetrii / AGERPRES

Elena Cuza died in 1909. Her funeral procession left Piatra-Neamt by train, and she was buried in Solesti, Vaslui, beside her parents, in the simple manner she wished. Although she had hoped to rest at Bistrita Monastery, she had given that burial place to former prefect Nicu Albu, who had died a year earlier.

King Carol I and Queen Elisabeta sent a telegram to her brother, Theodor Rosetti, expressing their sorrow and honoring the woman remembered throughout the country - and especially in Piatra-Neamt - as the mother of the poor. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Gabriel Apetrii; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)