Mother Alexandra - Princess Ileana of Romania (1909-1991)

Born Princess Ileana in Bucharest, Romania (January 5, 1909), Mother Alexandra was the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie. She had six children with her husband, Archduke Anton of Austria. Fleeing the Nazis in Austria and the Communists in Romania, she finally ended up in the United States. After the death of her husband and once her children were well established, she fulfilled her lifelong desire to become a nun. She founded the Monastery of the Transfiguration in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, one of the first Orthodox women’s monasteries in this country. She was the abbess there until her death in 1991.


A Tribute to the Life of Mother Alexandra