Matthew Brâncoveanu

Saint Matthew Brâncoveanu, martyr, was the fourth son of the prince Constantine Brâncoveanu and his wife Marica. He was born in 1702 and received the crown of martyrdom at Constantinople on 15/26 August 1714. He was canonized on 20 June 1992 by the Romanian Orthodox Church, he, his brothers and his father being venerated under the name of the Holy Martyrs Brâncoveanu.

Matthew was taken by the Turks in April 1714 and brought, with the whole family, to Constantinople, after the deposition of his father. He was imprisoned at Edikule, in Istanbul. In the end, on 15 August 1714 (old style), he was beheaded, like the three brothers, the boyar Ianache Văcărescu and the deposed prince, in front of the sultan Ahmed III and the foreign diplomatic corps then in Constantinople, their heads being set on spears and carried through the city, and their bodies thrown into the sea.

As with his older brothers, history records little about his life. By contrast, many written sources have been preserved about his death. They show that at the place of execution Matthew would have wished to turn Turk, which would have saved him from death. The sources disagree about the reason why this did not take place. Some say that his father urged him to accept his fate, but the possibility is also attested that the father did not give his consent, which was required by Turkish custom for the conversion of a son. The sources differ also on the order in which the executions took place, that is, whether the sons were beheaded in ascending or descending order of age.

Matthew was to inherit the family estate at Doicești, while the other three brothers would have had the estates of Mogoșoaia, Potlogi and Brâncoveni.