Lekić's speech at the Rome conference: Queen Helena between history and spirituality

Good afternoon everyone, I especially greet the organizers and participants of this eminent gathering, which is being held in front of a select Italian audience in the setting of a beautiful Roman basilica!

It is a great honor and pleasure for me to participate in this prestigious conference, enriched by such a beautiful and inspiring title: "Queen Helena between history and spirituality."

History and spirituality were two fundamental pillars in life of Queen JelenaIn other words, she herself followed and served history and spirituality with devotion throughout her exemplary life.

In fact, there are few figures in whom history and spirituality have intertwined with such depth and success. Without her exceptional spirituality, Queen Helena could not have reached the historical heights she is widely recognized for today.

And on this occasion, here in Rome, we remember a personality who already during her lifetime acquired the dimensions of an exceptional phenomenon that deservedly passed into legend. The memory of her life endures through time, both in commemorative forms and in ongoing studies dedicated to her life and works.

Namely, the work of Queen Helena represents a broad and fascinating field of research, encompassing various disciplines such as history, art, poetry, medicine, music, botany, photography and, above all, humanism.

I am coming to this eminent gathering from Montenegro, the birthplace of the Montenegrin princess and Queen of Italy.

We Montenegrins are deeply proud of Jelena of Montenegro, who became the queen of the great and civilized Italy, our neighbor on the other side of the Adriatic. Despite our geographical proximity - at the same time separated and connected by the waters of the Adriatic - our realities have historically followed different paths, characterized by different traditions, customs and cultures.

The name "Montenegro", which throughout history has always evoked a certain mysterious, romantic curiosity and attraction, was first mentioned by the Venetians, impressed by the high, dark mountains that rise majestically above the seashore.

Jelena of Montenegro was born and raised in a mountainous area, not far from the sea, in Cetinje. It is the historical heart of Montenegro, a place that represents one of the great symbols of freedom in the Balkans.

It is a country that has never submitted to Turkish rule over the centuries, even during periods when the Ottoman Empire dominated a large part of the Balkans, and even Europe.

The roots of Jelena's upbringing, education, spirituality - in essence, her entire personality - are grounded in the specific, heroic history of the people to which she belonged.

Jelena Petrović was born in 1873, five years before Montenegro was internationally recognized as an independent state at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.

I would like to briefly highlight some significant moments of her childhood and youth that contributed to the formation of the character of the Montenegrin Princess Jelena.

As already mentioned, we are talking about the historical and ethical code of a warrior people, dedicated to defending their freedom and protecting the Christian faith.

Queen Jelena belonged to the dynasty Petrovic, which ruled Montenegro for several centuries. Most members of this dynasty led the country and people as bishops, thus making Montenegro a theocratic state of a specific character, deeply subordinate to the fateful defense of the people; some time later, power passed into the hands of princes from the same Petrović family, until Montenegro became a kingdom.

Jelena's father, Nikola Petrovic, was the first and last king of Montenegro.

Most rulers of the Petrović dynasty, including King Nikola, were not only warriors but also writers and poets. Nikola Petrović, the future king of Montenegro, studied in Trieste and Paris. In addition to writing poetry and plays, he wrote the lyrical drama “The Balkan Empress”, which achieved success in Paris and other European capitals.

Among Jelena's distinguished ancestors, the bishop stands out. Petar II Petrovic Njegos, recognized as one of the greatest Slovenian poets. In his masterpiece “Mountain Wreath”, he managed to summarize and give meaning to the struggle of his small people for their freedom, primarily united by Christian values. This work is considered the “Iliad” of the South Slavs and has been translated into several world languages.

To illustrate the picture of Montenegrin rulers, especially King Nikola, the father of Queen Jelena, I will quote words from a speech Count Carlo Sforza, a great protagonist of Italian foreign policy, in the Italian Senate, March 1921.

"Honorable Senators,

On March 1st, King Nikola of Montenegro passed away in Antibes. With King Nikola disappeared the noble figure of a man who, due to the diverse richness of his temperament, reminds us of our great Italians from the fifteenth century. Conspirator, poet, playwright, warrior, realist and idealist at the same time - the more time passes, the more he will appear as one of the most ingenious figures of his race, whom his people saw for years as the absolute champion of national feeling. When the Austrians in the north and the Turks in the south held his compatriots under the yoke, he knew how to keep alive in the corner of the country he ruled, the torch of faith, independence and freedom...”

It seems to me that it was worth quoting this speech, apparently in an epic tone, delivered in the Italian Senate dedicated to the father of Queen Helena.

As a very young woman, Jelena witnessed the historical scenes of a small, brave people, thus inheriting, also through her father's example, the ethics of fighting for justice, freedom, solidarity, and faith.

When Montenegro, under the leadership of Nikola, fought against the Turks in 1876, there were many casualties. The wounded were brought to Cetinje, receiving medical care in the existing conditions right in front of the palace of the Montenegrin ruler. Princess Jelena, at only four years old, witnessed the tragedy of her people as well as the assistance to wounded Montenegrins, with her mother Milena at the head.

With experiences like these in her childhood, and with the example of her mother, Jelena formed her humanist personality. She later became an icon of kindness and sacrifice, which she demonstrated throughout her life.

Among many such examples, her noble solidarity and sacrifice during the Messina earthquake of 1908 are particularly remembered, then during World War I, when Helena converted the Quirinal into a hospital for the treatment of wounded Italian soldiers.

II

The third, or perhaps the first dimension of the childhood and youth of Jelena, the Montenegrin princess, consisted of religious education and a deep commitment to Christian values, which were interpreted through the Orthodox faith and the Christian church.

Jelena was baptized in the Vlach Church in the city of Cetinje, built around 1450 and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

The father decided that her godfather would be Russian. Tsar Alexander II RomanovThe Tsar accepted the proposal and sent a Russian consul from Dubrovnik, Alexandra Yorina, to Cetinje to perform a baptism on his behalf.

If Jelena learned about Orthodox Christian values ​​in Montenegro, it can be said that she later deepened them during her education in Russia.

As we know, the Orthodox Church has been the soul of “Mother Russia” for centuries. It can be said that Christianity not only played a central role in the spiritual life of Russia, but over time the doctrine of the “Third Rome” also developed. It explained how, historically speaking, Rome moved from the Tiber to the Bosphorus, and then Moscow became the center of Christianity. But that is another and big topic.

From the court in Cetinje, Jelena, at the age of ten, went to Petrograd for education. She was educated at the Smolny Institute, an institution organized for princesses and girls from European noble families, under the patronage of the Russian Empress. In Petrograd, Jelena, in addition to developing her inclinations towards painting, writing, foreign languages, and architecture, continued to cultivate her Christian faith.

As we know, Jelena met Viktor Emanuela at the opening of the World Exhibition of Modern Painting in Venice, in February 1895. They then became more permanently close at a ball in Russia, in May 1896, on the occasion of the coronation Nicholas II for the Tsar of Russia. It was there, at the palace, during the ceremony, that Elena uttered the fateful “yes,” marking the path of her future.

In August of the same year, Victor Emmanuel arrived at the royal court in Cetinje, where the engagement took place, with all the traditional Christian rites and ceremonies. After the celebration in the Cetinje Biljarda, the royal yacht “Savoja” sailed from the port of Bar on October 19, 1896, towards Italy, arriving in Bari with the famous newlyweds. Jelena, as required by Italian rules, had previously converted to the Catholic faith.

If in Montenegro Jelena had already adopted the ideal of serving her people, she continued to live the same ideal in Italy, serving her second homeland and the Italian people. In the same way, Jelena adopted the ideal of “servant of God” all in the Orthodox faith, only to continue it in Catholicism.

In this sense, Jelena's life - once an Orthodox Montenegrin princess and then a Catholic queen of Italy - represents the harmonious continuity of a special Christian woman. Jelena thus became the embodiment of the sublime idea of ​​ecumenism.

That is why, the writer present here today Lucano Regolo in his extensive book "Jelena" he quoted the words Metropolitan Amfilohi: “Jelena, who as a Montenegrin princess abandoned the Orthodox faith to convert to Catholicism and marry Victor Emmanuel III, was a symbol of the closeness of the two Christian confessions.”

Pope John Paul II, in the context of the jubilee of 2000, he uttered the famous sentence: "One cannot breathe like Christians - I would say even more, like Catholics - with only one lung; one must have both lungs, East and West."

This statement can be considered an important point on the path we want to follow together. The sublime path of ecumenism. Probably thanks to God's gift, Jelena lived her entire life breathing and carrying within herself the strength of both lungs of Christianity - Orthodox and Catholic.

III

Finally, allow me to highlight three special episodes that further illustrate the personality of Queen Jelena.

First.

The Queen of Italy found herself very quickly in earthquake-ravaged Messina. Many dramatic scenes of the "queen nurse"'s actions are recorded in history books and textbooks. But there is another, less frequently mentioned, from that period.

Namely, in the waters of the Mediterranean, not far from Messina, during those dramatic days, there were two Russian warships. When asked for help in evacuating the unfortunate people, the admiral replied that they had a precisely defined route that they could not change without the approval of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Historians record that at one point the sailors saw Queen Jelena climbing onto the ship "Slavija", then speaking in Russian. Admiral Livtinov with the following words: "Mr. Admiral, I am not addressing you as the Queen of Italy, nor as the Princess of Montenegro. A woman is addressing you who, in the name of humanity, begs you to immediately transport these unfortunate, seriously wounded people to Naples."

When news of this scene, and especially of the words spoken, reached Petrograd, it was quickly decided that the ship "Slavija" and another warship nearby would immediately sail with the wounded towards Naples.

The second episode concerns the arrest and dismissal. Mussolini On July 26, 1943, after a vote of no confidence in the Grand Fascist Council. When Mussolini came to the king for an “audience,” he did not know that his arrest was being prepared. Queen Helena watched from the window as the commander of the Carabinieri, in the courtyard of their villa, arrested Mussolini.

Many historians confirm that Queen Helena, despite her open antipathy towards Mussolini, somehow rebuked her husband, the King of Italy, for the arrest being carried out in their home, thus violating the rules of hospitality.

Later explanation of this episode within the family Savoy was: “Jelena remained Montenegrin in many ways” (quoted in the text “Elena di Savoia” by the author Renata Barneski).

And finally, a scene that I would consider moving, related to the last ship voyage of Queen Helena, then in refugee status, from Egypt to France. Before she retired to the ship's cabin, she said to her governess:

"If I fall asleep and we're passing near the Italian coast, wake me up, I want to see the lights of Sicily."

Despite the injustices of fate in the last stages of her life, Queen Helena never publicly expressed resentment, nor did she ask for help from anyone. Scenes like the one mentioned on the ship, as she passed by Messina, Sicily, Italy, whose queen she was for almost half a century, remained part of her intimacy. And the life destiny that she proudly carried throughout her life.

We cannot fully know what made up her private life, nor what was going through the mind of the Italian queen as, in the last phase of her life, always dressed in black, she walked alone, often for a walk, through the streets of Montpellier.

Were they memories of Cetinje and Petrograd, or of beloved Italy? What we do know is that the inhabitants of Montpellier greeted her at her final farewell with the words: Farewell, good black lady! (Farewell, great lady in black).

What we do know is that it was from Montpellier that the initiative to declare Queen Helena a saint originated.

Meanwhile, this initiative grew stronger, gaining formal momentum in the Vatican when the procedure for deciding on the beatification of Helena of Savoy began.

Here, at this prestigious Roman gathering in 2025, organized by, among others, the Vatican University and the Committee for the Beatification of Queen Helena, new steps are being taken towards achieving that goal.

We in Montenegro are following all this with great interest, deeply proud that a Montenegrin daughter, born in Cetinje, is now, posthumously, receiving high recognition. And the wonderful tribute which we could still hear today.

With our hope that the Italian queen, Montenegrin princess, who saw the light of life in Montenegro, where she grew up and received her first education, will soon receive her well-deserved beatification.

Therefore, we are deeply grateful to Italy and its citizens for not forgetting their queen, especially to church institutions for their great respect for Helena's spirituality and her devotion to the principles of humanism and Christian values.