From 1947 to 1948, around the time a communist regime was established in her country, she went to the Soviet Union to attend the Gorky Pedagogical Institute.

Ștefănescu, a former student, recalled her courses as being "impressive in their erudition and solemnity, and through a veneration of humanist values visibly at odds with the proletarian egalitarianism promoted by the communist regime".

[1] Dumitrescu's rapid ascent in academia drew the ire of Elena Ceaușescu, who eventually decided to halt her progress.

[4] As a gifted communicator, she spoke before a wide range of audiences: students, in conference halls and on radio and television, emerging as a public intellectual.

[6] Late in life, beginning around 2000, she spent most of her time at the Romanian Orthodox Văratec Monastery and ultimately took the vows of a nun, adopting the name Benedicta.

[3][4] She had been introduced to the monastery by Valeria, the widow of writer Mihail Sadoveanu, who invited her to spend summers there.

[1] Writing shortly after her death, Ștefănescu claimed that her rapprochement with the regime was motivated by a desire to be left alone, permitted to teach the humanities at home and assert the importance of Romanian culture abroad.

He lamented that this stance drew opprobrium in the post-communist period, both from "maniacal vigilantes bereft of a feeling for nuance" and from "poorly educated youths of the sort who deface statues with paint".