Memorie.al / We have dedicated a special portrait today to the first Albanian Cardinal, Mikel Koliqi. This great man of the nation, he who became a living saint of Christianity and of his own country, so that Albania would reflect only peace, light, goodness, and culture, gave a great contribution not only to Christianity, but also to art, in the field of music and Albanian culture. Mikel Koliqi was born in Shkodër on September 29, 1902, into a wealthy and respected family. His father, Marku, or Shani, as they called him, was a skilled merchant and an influential man in Shkodër. Mikeli was the second child of 8 children in this family (Ernesti was the first child and after Mikeli, Guljemi, Leci, Margarita, Antonieta, Viktori, Terezina. Today only Margarita in Shkodër and Terezina in Rome live).
In 1911, he enrolled in the Saverian College of the Jesuit fathers in Shkodër and in 1912, together with his brother Ernest; they left for studies in Italy, near their uncle. In Italy he successively attended the “Areccia” College for two years, the “Vilorez” college in Monza in the years 1919-1924, stayed in Brescia for one school year, took his maturity exam in Bari, one year in Florence, and then in Milan, where he studied for two years at the Polytechnic University, for engineering and then theology. During these years, Mikeli was distinguished for his broad culture and his passion for music.
He played the piano from the age of 17 and harmony. He attended various shows in Italy, together with his friends and fellow students. One of them was the distinguished pianist Tonin Guraziu. In 1931, at the peak of his studies, God’s grace called him to become a priest and to serve the people with his heart. On May 30, 1931, he was ordained a priest by the distinguished Archbishop of Shkodër, Monsignor Lazër Mjeda.
At that time, in the ’30s, Shkodra was in full artistic bloom. Respected names of the city had gathered the youth of Shkodra around them. It is said without fear that Shkodra was the capital of Albanian culture. Father Martin Gjoka, the first professional in Albanian music, had long since created his artistic circle. Mikeli’s knowledge of music was self-taught, so he asked Monsignor Lugj Bumçi for a scholarship or a music course.
Despite his efforts to find a scholarship in France, which was not achieved, Monsignor Bumçi managed to find a one-year specialization for Mikeli, with a famous Austrian choir, where he specialized as a choral conductor, which would later serve him in his artistic creativity and in his work as a priest and, later, as a parish priest. In April 1936, he was appointed parish priest of Shkodra, having previously served also as deputy parish priest of the Archdiocese of Shkodra. During this period, he also distinguished himself as a musicologist. This is also the golden period of his musical creativity.
During his 10 years as a parish priest, alongside his work as a man of God, he played an important role in Albanian culture and music. In 1932, Mikel Koliqi created a choral group with the Latin name “Scuola Cantorum”, with great professional demands, even though it was only an amateur choir. With this choir, which also sang in the religious services of the Shkodra cathedral, Dom Mikel Koliqi became the initiator of revitalizing choral activities with works by well-known authors of world music, thus laying the foundations of cultivated Albanian music.
He founded the “Albanian Catholic Action”, and founded and directed the magazine “Kumona e së dielës” (The Sunday Bell) (January 1, 1938 – November 1944), a cultural and religious magazine, not forgetting social problems, dealing with the education of Shkodra’s youth in a way of moral and natural emancipation, based on the principles of Christian doctrine. He created a studio that also showed the films of the time, alongside his activity as a creator of church music. He created about 30-40 pieces for the Church choir. These pieces have now been lost, when his library was confiscated and everything of his disappeared.
The most important and culminating part of his artistic career is his creativity as a composer and precisely his three melodramas. He laid the foundations of Albanian melodrama.
Mikel Koliqi created three melodramas written by the well-known poet and playwright Dom Ndre Zadeja. These were “Rozafa”, “The Siege of Shkodra”, “The Red Robe (Ruba e kuqe)”, which have been transmitted to us as manuscripts. But even they have survived to this day, thanks to a talented musician, one of his students, Tonin Harapi, who preserved these manuscripts for over 45 consecutive years, a courageous act that expresses his high patriotic and cultural awareness.
(In November 1998, the new choir rose under the name “Scuola Cantorum” in 1991 by composer Gjon Kapidani and directed today by composer Zef Çoba, performed pieces from his three melodramas. These melodramas were studied and arranged by his nephew, the esteemed composer who is no longer alive today, Gjon Simoni).
“When I became a young priest, they knew I was involved in music,” Mikel Koliqi once said in an interview before he closed his eyes. “So I wrote some religious pieces. One day Dom Ndre Zadeja comes to the cell in the Parish House and throws the written literary piece ‘Rozafa’ on my table. Until that time, we accompanied Albanian words with foreign music. It didn’t seem pleasant to me for this old Albanian story to be accompanied by foreign music. So I started working in Albanian. I mean that the motifs of Rozafa are based on national pieces, so the other two melodramas do not have a religious character either.”
These works were the first starting point of our scenic music. Initially, this was to keep alive the interest of the members of the “Scuola Cantorum” in attending the choir and simultaneously entertaining the people. The music of the first melodrama “Rozafa” was set to music during the months of February – March 1936 and the show was given on April 26, 1936 at the Jesuit Theatre. The show was directed by Dom Mikel Koliqi himself, who also played the piano. This show was also given on May 3 and 10 of that year. The melodrama consisted of three acts with eight musical numbers of various genres such as arias, duets, chorales, songs, and ensembles with soloists and choir. The show lasted about two hours, recitations plus music.
“To tell the truth,” parts from his memories, “I made these pieces quickly, as I performed them myself on the piano and I didn’t have time to orchestrate them. The hall was full, mostly with young people,” Dom Mikeli recalled. In these melodramas performed Loro Bytyçi in the role of Rozafa, and later Nikollë Çuni, Tef Gjonej, Gjon Kujxhia, Joz Jakova, Pjetër Gjoka, Ndoc Jakova, Kolë Naraçi, Cin Lufi, Pac Luli, etc.
The melodrama “The Siege of Shkodra” was set to music on the drama of the same title by Dom Ndre Zadeja and was shown on April 26, 1937, one year after the first. This melodrama also consisted of three acts with six musical numbers and was performed by the “Scuola Cantorum”. The melodrama “The Red Robe (Ruba e kuqe)” was written and shown within the year 1937, on December 19. All three melodramas have a patriotic character and evoke the struggle of our people for independence.
During the Fascist occupation, Dom Mikel Koliqi did not get involved in the war, or with either side. He continued his work as a parish priest and simultaneously on his newspaper until 1944.
Meanwhile, we recall that his brother, Ernesti, had another intense literary and political activity. He was part of Shefqet Vërlaci’s cabinet as Minister of Education (April 1939 – December 1942). One of his greatest initiatives was the call he made to Albanian teachers to go and teach in Kosovo, a call answered by many patriotic teachers. In 1942, he went as ambassador to Rome and never returned to Albania.
But Mikeli enjoyed great respect, an influential man in Shkodra, and this, as well as his brother, was one of the reasons he was arrested on February 2, 1945, by the communist regime. Everything was confiscated, his library was destroyed, and his manuscripts disappeared. For Dom Mikel, the long road of Calvary would begin a frightening, very harsh road. In the years 1952-’53, he was released for a short time and then re-imprisoned again, spending 38 years in communist prisons.
He served his sentence in all the prisons of the country and was treated as special, as not everyone could talk to him. He was constantly supervised. Hope in God kept him alive in that communist hell. Meanwhile, his brother Ernesti was an honored man, a personality in Albanian culture, founder of the chair of Albanian language and literature at the University of Rome. He nurtured the Albanian language among the Arbëreshë; his programs also included the names of writers who were slandered in Albania as ‘collaborators’ of fascism.
One of the reasons they kept Mikeli hostage in prison was also his brother, whom they constantly pressured by saying: “we executed him,” “we will execute him,” etc., so that he would not speak against the regime and would not develop political activity. Otherwise, they took care that Mikeli remained alive at all costs. With his brother’s death in 1975, his treatment also changed. In camps, he was isolated so he couldn’t move. During all the years in prison, he came only once to Tirana, when he was to be examined around the late ’70s and early ’80s. During the years in prison, family members visited him rarely, as harsher persecution awaited them. The one who visited him often was his niece!
With the death of dictator Hoxha, the pressure on the power was great. How could they keep an 84-year-old man in prison?! The power released him in 1986. With both heart and fear, he was received at the home of his sister Margarita and his nephew Albert Kurti, the son of the well-known musician Palokë Kurti, who took care of him until the last moments of his life, sacrificing and considering everything.
And then came Democracy! The wild communist night ended. Churches and mosques were opened. Dom Mikeli was on the verge of 90. Always humble, kind-hearted and smiling.
In November 1990, the courageous priest Dom Simon Jubani publicly celebrated the first Mass after 23 years in the chapel of the old cemetery of Shkodra. The Albanian government established relations with the Holy See and Dom Mikeli became the personification of the half-century persecutions suffered during the dictatorship years by religion in general and especially the Catholic community he represented. Even at the age of 91, Dom Mikeli exercised the duty of parish priest of Shkodra, which he had never abandoned, but was released, at his request, from this duty due to age. In January 1992, the Holy Father, Pope Wojtyła, appointed him Bishop.
Dom Mikeli and Mother Teresa were two great figures of Christianity and simultaneously of the Albanian nation. They met in April 1993, in a dark room in Shkodra. Mother Teresa knelt before him, saying: “Give me your blessing because you are a martyr.” With modesty, Dom Mikeli tried to avoid this matter, but then blessed with his hand the hand of the greatest Albanian woman of all time. The other meeting with the Pope happened in April 1993, at the Archbishopric of Shkodra.
The Holy See initially gave him the title “Monsignor”, while on November 28, 1994, Pope John Paul II ordained him Cardinal. In the light-filled hall in the Vatican, full of people, when his name was called, he stood up. So tired, just skin and bones, extremely aged, but with a noble face. Before various media, Cardinal Mikel Koliqi expressed himself with the greatest simplicity: “The Pope chose me for cardinal because I was the oldest and… Albania received the cardinal title.”
Thus, Dom Mikel Koliqi became the first Albanian cardinal. This marked the peak of his religious career. At the beginning of 1994, his brother Guljemi, nearly 90 years old, came from America. For a short time, the two brothers lived together until March 1996, when Guljemi died, leaving Cardinal Mikel alone again. In the autumn of 1995, he had an accident. They sent him urgently to Italy for treatment. Despite the high level of care, the surgical intervention was not successful. Now he could no longer get out of bed.
On December 25, 1996, the President of the Republic went personally to his home to present him with the high decoration “Honor of the Nation”. It was the last honor paid to him. He died two months later in Shkodra on January 28, 1997 (Note: The text says Jan 28, 1996, but this seems inconsistent with the Dec 1996 award; likely a typo, should be Jan 1997), at the age of 94. He died surrounded by the high care of his sister Margarita, his nephew Albert, and his wife Xhina. His funeral took place in his hometown on January 30, while the Mass on this occasion was led by the envoy of Pope John Paul II, the Apostolic Nuncio to Albania, Ivan Dias.
Cardinal Mikel Koliqi was one of those special people who, thanks to their broad culture and systematic work, manage to do great and important works for the nation. He was one of the clerics who quickly understood the time, the reality, the environment, and the mentality surrounding them and naturally chose the style of work, the harmonization of religion with science, of eternity with death. “The life of Mikel Koliqi,” said Monsignor Rrok Mirdita, “is a living symbol of faith in Albania. It appears in its natural development, also during the harsh ordeal, and in its resurrection.” / Memorie.al
