Year V, July – December 2020, 3 – 4

Additional documents on the archbishopric of Durrës   Keywords: Albanian dioceses, Catholic missions, Franciscan friars, repression, martyrdom. The administration of the archbishopric of Durrës from 1640 to 1912 has been thoroughly investigated by prof. Peter Bartl in a study of utmost interest published some years ago. Arbëresh scholar Italo Sarro in this essay, though focusing just on a limited time span (1640-1670), portrays the situation of the Catholic Church in Albania grounded on the reports of the archbishops, who from Kurbin, in centre-north Albania ran the six suffragan dioceses, as well as on the report of the Apostolic Delegate written in 1653. Such reports help us understand not only the number of the churches destroyed, or that of the priests or of the Franciscan friars committed to the safeguard and the diffusion of the Catholic faith, but also typical aspects of everyday life of Albanian society imbued with the never-quenched desire of freedom and independence. In this extraordinary historical circumstance such desires were once again brutally crushed with atrocious use of force.

In search of a good Ottoman government:  Shkodër at the time of Msgr Benigno Albertini (1832-1838)  Keywords: Albania, Shkodër, Benigno Albertini, Oriental Despotism, Reşid Mehmed Pasha, Mustapha Bushatli, Propaganda Fide, Ragusa, Austria. Benigno Albertini was the bishop of Shkodër from 1832 to 1838 during a troubled period in the city’s history. He was a Ragusa-born Franciscan, at present Dubrovnik in Croatia, and in his early years he distinguished himself for his culture and oratory skills, maintaining close contacts with the Italian ecclesiastical and intellectual world. In Ragusa he also collaborated in the publication of the editio princeps of the 17th century Slavic poem Osman. Our essay analyzes part of the documentation about him kept in the Vatican archives. In particular, we will focus our attention on his memorial written in late 1836 about the conditions of the Catholics in Shkodër and the problems caused to them by the decisions of local governors appointed by the Sublime Porte after the end of the Bushatli dynasty. In that year Albertini undertook a difficult journey to Rome and then in 1837 to Vienna, in order to champion the requests of his diocese at the Holy See and in front of the Emperor of Austria. Closely connected to this memorial is the petition written by a group of Catholics from Shkodër to the Sultan in which – as in Albertini’s account – they ask the Ottoman central authority to grant them and their properties security as well as protection of his subjects from the arbitrary decisions of the local governors. The documents and the facts which they narrate can be read as the local episode of a more general process of Ottoman history during the years immediately preceding the Tanzimat. It is a chain of events to which some historians have recently drawn attention by proposing new interpretations, namely, the widespread protest against the weakness of the State towards its peripheral authorities and, as it has been stated, “the failure of the imperial regime to uphold basic standards of justice” (Anscombe, 2012).

Sacer Panniculus Christi – The Holy Swaddle of Christ that John the Albanian left in Dubrovnik in 843 A. D. Keywords: Sacer Panniculus Christi, Swaddle of Christ, Albanian clergy, Carolus Thopia, Junius Resti, Chronica Ragusina, Daniele Farlati, Coletti, Illyricum Sacrum, Dalmatia. The essay focuses on one of the earliest medieval accounts known so far mentioning Albanians in Dalmatia. Upon his return from the Holy Land in 843 A. D., John the Albanian, a priest who was travelling to Venice, stopped in Ragusa, present-day Dubrovnik to see his co-national presbyter Sergius. He left him a chest of lead in custody. Should he not return within ten years, Sergius could open it. Priest John never returned and Sergius in his deathbed revealed the slab under which he had hidden the chest. However, the chest was never unearthed until 1040 A.D. Two years before that, the parish priest had gone on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and when he returned to Dubrovnik, much to his surprise, he was told that the Republic of Ragusa and the archbishop had built a cathedral where the chapel once stood. Worried about the chest, he revealed the archbishop that legend had it that there was something precious lying under the floor. The priest and the archbishop together dug the chest up and found in it the Holy Swaddle of the Baby Christ along with the necessary authentic certificate. At long last, four centuries after its arrival in Ragusa, the Swaddle was publicly displayed. The story is narrated by Junius Resti, one of the most celebrated historians of Ragusa in his «Chronica Ragusina». Though published in 1893, the manuscript dates back to 1735 and was the result of previous research conducted by earlier historians; Resti was only the third who worked on it. Also Fr Serafino Razzi O.P, mentions the Holy Swaddle of Christ in his «Storia di Raugia» (1595). After Resti and Razzi also Daniele Farlati S. I, devoted several paragraphs to the story of the Swaddle in his «Illyricum Sacrum» (1800) adding precious data. However, Resti’s account remains the earliest apparently. In 1376, after having resided in different churches, the Swaddle was brought in the cathedral of Dubrovnik. In those years, there were prominent Albanian clergymen in Dalmatia such as Dominicus Topia O. P., bishop of Curzola and Andreas IV, archbishop of Dubrovnik (1388-1393) to mention a few, and several other minor figures. Of no less importance in that period was the involvement in the local politics of the Albanian prince Carolus Thopia, who was made “dux Dalmatie et Croacie” (1369-1376). At present the Holy Swaddle of Christ is treasured in the cathedral of Dubrovnik in Croatia and leaves the church only once a year, on the feast of St Blasius, patron saint of the town.

Poison letters written in the Albanian dialect of Hydra sent from London to the Greek Prime Minister (1824) Keywords: Island of Hydra, Albanian language, Arvanitica, Ioannis Orlandos, Gheorghios Cunduriotis, Ioannis Zaimis, Costantinos Zografos, Stavros Parthenopulos. The two letters published here are written in the Albanian dialect of Hydra in London (20 Sept. and 16 Mar. 1824) by Hydriot Ioannis Orlandos, and sent to another Hydriot Gheorgios Cunduriotis, his father-in-law as well as Prime Minister of the Greek Government. In an attempt to get rid of Zaimis who currently was in London, Orlandos sent this bitter letter whose content should not be disclosed to Cunduriotis. In fact, he wrote in the Arvanit language of Hydra, a language that the recipient undoubtedly understood. In his second letter, Orlandos overstepped every mark of courtesy displaying insolence and maliciousness. He did not deem sufficient to simply write una letterra di raccomandazione imbued with venom and bitterness on behalf of youngster Stavros Parthenopulos but he also had the courage to hand it over personally to the young man in order to personally deliver it then to Gheorgios Cunduriotis, Prime Minister of the country. In case Parthenopulos would open and read the letter, Orlandos wrote the section relating to the deliverer in the Arvanit language of Hydra, so as to avoid any personal involvement in the question. The text in Albanian in both letters is written in the Greek alphabet and reverberates the peculiar Albanian dialect of Hydra otherwise known as Arvanitica.

Msgr Ernesto Cozzi and his role in the re-organisation of the Albanian clergy during the 1920s. Keywords: Albania, Ernesto Cozzi, Apostolic Delegate, bishops, Willem Marinus van Rossum. The study goes on with the examination of the figure of Rev. Ernesto Cozzi, namely, with the description of his first year as an Apostolic Delegate to Albania. He had already spent fifteen years of his missionary life in the Albanian mountains, precisely in the dioceses of Pult and Shkoder, initially as a parish priest and then as a secretary to Msgr Marconi and Msgr Serreqi.  As a chaplain, he participated in the First World War on the Polish and on the Albanian fronts. In the aftermath of the war, the Holy See decided to appoint new delegates to the new nations which were born from the ashes of the First World War as a result of the fall of the great empires. Prior to his appointment, an apostolic visit took place to clear up the existing problems in Albania and establish the highest priorities in the country. Cozzi was appointed Apostolic Delegate to Albania in November 1920 and his most urgent task was that of re-regulation of the dioceses included within the Albanian state limits. Choosing the new bishops and re-confirming the existent ones proved to be a delicate matter of utmost gravity which took him more than eight months. He had to face up to severe problems such as serious financial mismanagement of ecclesiastic property as well as involvement of bishops in political questions which, in fact, he tried to limit. Msgr Cozzi had also to resist the pressure put on him by the local authorities as well as by the consular authorities on topics which he maintained regarded only the Roman Church. All this occurred in an unsteady political and diplomatic backdrop, when friction among the lay, the Franciscans and the Jesuits was going on too.

Aspects and events in the early formation of Luigi Pirandello and Giuseppe Schirò. Keywords: Albanian literature, Giuseppe Schirò, Luigi Pirandello, Arberesh history. The newly retrieved correspondence between Pirandello and Schirò helps us reconstruct the relationship between the two young writers, both protagonists of a time rich in events. Of no less importance were their passionate love stories with two young women by the same name: Lina Pirandello. The first Lina was the cousin of the writer whereas the other the sister of the future playwright. The background was that of the Palermo of the liberty style at the end of the 19^th century while the cultural context was dominated by the great and renowned Sicilian figures of the time. In the second part of the essay, the author considers the literary activity shared by the two young men. As to the early literary production of Schirò, Pirandello’s accounts prove to be decisive in order to better outline the evolution of the numerous manuscripts that Schirò left behind. The essay resumes and enriches with additional facts the introduction appeared in the publication of the correspondence between Schirò and Pirandello in 2002.

Marco La Piana (1883-1958), his family of origin, life and scientific activity. Keywords: Marco La Piana, Giorgio La Piana, Glottology, Grammar, Comparative Dictionary, Arbëreshë. Marco La Piana, together with his brother Giorgio (1878-1971), is one of the last representatives of the no longer existing household La Piana from Piana degli Albanesi in the province of Palermo. The numerous family emigrated to the USA around 1910 where Giorgio, who had previously served since 1900 as a priest in Monreale and Palermo, together with his sister Angelina, joined his older brothers. Both Giorgio and Angelina became university teachers, respectively at Harvard and Wellesley, where their publications were acclaimed. After a period as a hieromonk in Grottaferrata (Rome), lasting until 1918, Marco returned to Palermo where he joined the military service and afterwards married Lucia D’Alia, a relative, in a civil ceremony. Giorgio befriended university colleagues and exiles from Italy and Albania. The so-called “American modernist”, with his contacts with Ernesto Buonaiuti’s (1881-1946) and Antonino De Stefano’s (1880-1964) modernization movement, was interested in the church and Italy. Marco settled in Palermo where he worked as a high school teacher, also teaching Albanian at Palermo University. He spent his time between the capital city and Piana degli Albanesi, dedicating his time here to farming. As an expert linguist, he wrote original essays on the grammar and glottology of the Albanian language while maintaining contacts with Albanian nationals and correspondence with his brothers of which 56 letters remain in the Manuscript and Archives of the Andover-Harvard Theological Library at the Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge-Massachusetts, bearing the catalogue reference: bMS 104/31 (10) La Piana Marco, spanning a period from 1938 to 1957.

Gjergj Fishta and China – in connection with the poem Casus Belli in the collection Ânzat e Parnasit.  Keywords: China, Boxer Rebellion, Albanian Literature, Gjergj Fishta, poem, Casus Belli. In the second half of the 19th century China was weakened due to the Opium War and to the Japonese agression of 1894-1895. In these circumstances the imperialist powers of the time such as Great Britain, France, Russia and Japan had divided China up into areas of their influence. They would plunder the wealth of the country and interfere in the home affairs. The foreigners would also despise ancient Chinese traditions and go unpunished, as they enjoyed immunity in the country and no legal action would be taken against them. Such situation fuelled hatred and soon what history has labelled as the Boxer Rebellion (1898-1901) broke out. In that time Albania was under the Ottoman rule but the ideals of liberty forwarded by the League of Prizren and, more generally speaking, by the Albanian Awakening, had by now encouraged the Albanians, who aspired to live and prosper in an independent country. To the Chinese events, Fr Gjergj Fishta (1871-1940) devoted a whole poem by the title Casus Belli (in Anzat e Parrnasit, 1907), with 29 stanzas of four verses each. Conceived as a dialogue, the poem begins with the ambassadors of the European Powers reporting on the news followed then by the mighty ones from Europe who attempt to justify their military intervention in China triggered off by the assassination of the German ambassador at the hands of the Chinese rebels. The poem conveys sentiments of deep empathy with China, with its riches and pristine nature, as well as with the Chinese – hardworking, intelligent and righteous people, to the point that one might think that the Poet had spent no little time in the midst of such people and their habitat. Fishta’s poem comes across as very interesting because of its form, vocabulary and expressions used (it was the beginning of the 20th century). It is also of a special interest if considered the capability to portray people and their inner world. At the same time, the poem witnesses traditional empathy of the Albanians with China and its people.