By Pjeter Logoreci
Memorie.al / The fifth anniversary of the death of Dom Simon Juban, the glorious man who made history with his movements, and who has remained indelible in the memory of every Albanian, is approaching in the coming days. Since I knew him closely and we were connected by friendship, I feel it as a spiritual and civic obligation to commemorate this giant of freedom, democracy and faith in God with this writing. Every time I visited my hometown, during my outings in the city, passing in front of the cathedral, the first contact with people I happened to have was Dom Simon, who as soon as the doors of the cathedral were opened, he was there to serve them many believers, who came especially for him.
I can say that, in recent years, he was unhappy, disappointed and spiritually killed, not by the sufferings of the prison or by the distortions he noticed in the construction of the fragile democracy in the country, but by his colleagues and church leaders in Shkodër.
In those times, the house of the tribune of freedom and faith, Dom Simon Juban, had become an important place for many believers, who came from the four corners of the country, even from other faiths, to talk and receive the blessing of the disciple of the homeland and religion.
As it seems, the popularity of Dom Simon Juban, at home and abroad, his meeting (as the first Albanian cleric) with the Pope in the Vatican, but also his critical attitude towards the incompetence and lack of recognition of our (Albanian) problems by non-Albanian leaders of the clergy, I blind the latter, who “found violations”, to “take measures”, against the hero of the nation, democracy and the Church.
The spirit and the cedar of Dom Simon, who failed to break 26 difficult years of imprisonment under the most brutal dictatorship of the globe, were struck by the injustice of the undeserved decision, by the leaders of the Shkodra Archbishopric, …to take away from him the right to exercise some religious services…, a blow that left a deep and incurable wound in him.
The one who, in the den of the dictatorship’s criminal beasts, in the infamous Burrell prison, celebrated the holy mass for all prisoners, regardless of religion, was denied the right to serve at the church altar.
Although crippled by the machinations of the “superiors”, his popularity among the common people grew immeasurably, as everyone was convinced of his upright personality and character. Justice may be delayed but not lost.
Who was Dom Simon Jubani?
…I was born in Shkodër on March 5, 1927. My parents, Zefi and Çilja, thanked the church and the country for an intellectual martyr, Dom Lazer Juban, poisoned with arsenic by the communist secret police in 1982…. – He writes in his autobiographical book; “MY PRISONS”…, as well as Simon and Kini.
Dom Simoni did his primary schooling at the Franciscan school and (after its closure) at the state high school in Shkodër. After finishing the radiology course in Tirana, he starts working as a radiologist in the capital’s Military Hospital. During the conflict with Greece, he is mobilized as a soldier and sent to the front.
After three years of military service, he returned to Shkodër and started working in the city’s Sanatorium, as a radiologist, while, as he says:…”To keep my body in shape, I started the sport I liked so much: light athletics and then football. I was immediately accepted as a member of the ‘Vllaznia’ team and, later, also of the national football team….”!
To his satisfaction, in 1957 (as a deacon) and 1958 (as a priest), he received the orders of the priesthood and was sent to Mirdita as a parish priest, with the aim of rebuilding the faith and the churches destroyed by communist violence.
“… But what I liked, he writes, -… the communists didn’t like it, who put handcuffs on me and made me go on a long and arduous journey (to Burrell prison), where I was locked up for 26 years in a row, they left traces of blood everywhere…!
In Burrel, I completed the “Communist Prison University”. I learned to write and speak Latin, Greek, Italian, French, English, which later served me as a friend to Albania, in our world, you told me what happened in my country, thus you earned the epithet “Prophet” “…!
Regarding his life, his sufferings in prison, he says: “If any painter wanted to symbolically paint my life, he would have to buy a black horse…”!
He was released from prison thanks to “Perestroika” and political developments in the world, on April 13, 1989, together with many other clerics, remaining a “debt” to the Central Committee of the PPSh and the communist regime, a full 14 years in prison.
All those who have known Dom Simon, know that the blackest day of his life was not the day of his arrest, but the day of his mother’s death, which experienced the death of her son, Dom Lazër Juban, forever. (To be poisoned by Sigurimi) and the chains of captivity of the little boy Simon.
Upon his return to freedom, he begins efforts and makes a dense activity, to resume the free exercise of religion. As a result of his perseverance and civic courage, he manages to celebrate the First public Mass on 4th January 1990, in the cemetery of Rrmaji in the city of Shkodra, in the presence of 200-300 believers.
This mass was followed by that of the 11th of Nandor, where even though under the repression and wild terror exercised by the Sigurimi and the police of the communist regime, all the citizens of Shkodra participated, regardless of their faith.
Who doesn’t remember this day marked for freedom of faith and speech, where Dom Simoni, although physically stammering, delivered a well-prepared programmatic speech, which would break the 23-year silence.
For his invaluable nationwide contribution, the University of San Francisco in California, in 1991, awarded him the title and diploma “Doctor Honoris Causa”, in humanities, with the motivation: “PROTAGONIST OF A NEW ERA IN ALBANIA…”!
Later, in 1996, the state of Michigan honored him with a special diploma, with the motivation: “INITIATOR OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND PRESS…”!
As he writes in his notes: “I am the first Albanian, after Perestroika, together with many other world personalities (senators, congressmen, ministers, Andreotti, the King of Belgium), I was called to the audience by Pope John Paul II Second, in the Vatican.
I am the first cleric without any rank, who was invited twice by the American administration, in Washington, once by the Russian parliament, once by Spain, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, many times by France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, while I refused visit China, Taiwan, Mexico, Argentina…”!
During his pastoral work, he created the Catholic parish of Spiteni, Kaftalli, as well as the center (religious, cultural, health, sports) of Kalivaci…!
“In order to preserve my independence of thought, I did not accept the rank – he says – …I never accepted, from the altar of the church, a political party, to appeal to the people, to vote for the party in power…! I take part in the party of the orphans, the massacred, the victims of yesterday and today…”! Memorie.al
