Two More Albanian Martyrs Declared by Pope Francis
Memorie.al /Pope Francis has declared two more Albanian martyrs, one from Albania and the other from Kosovo. The news was officially announced by the Vatican and broadcast by Vatican Radio in the Albanian language, while also being reported by spokespeople for the Albanian Catholic Church in Shkodra. This brings the total number of declared martyrs of the Albanian Catholic Church to 40. According to the announcement, Dom Gjon Gazulli and Father Luigj (Paliq) Palaj are on the path to beatification, recognized as “martyrs, witnesses of faith, defenders of fundamental human and national rights, and examples of love, service, and courage.”
According to sources from the Vatican and the Catholic Church in Albania and Kosovo, this news was welcomed with joy and gratitude across Albanian lands for Pope Francis, who authorized and approved the necessary decrees for the beatification of the two new martyrs of the Albanian Church and nation: Father Luigj Palaj, horribly tortured and finally killed by brutal Serbo-Montenegrin forces in Gjakova, and Dom Gjon Gazulli, killed by the regime of Ahmet Zogu in Shkodra.
Reactions to the announcement were swift. The Metropolitan Archbishop of Shkodra-Pult, Monsignor Angelo Massafra, stated in an interview with Vatican Radio that the two martyrs are Father Luigj (Paliq) Palaj, or Father Luzi, as he was known to his contemporaries, a Franciscan of the Order of Friars Minor, martyred by Orthodox Slavs in Kosovo, and Dom Gjon Gazulli, a diocesan priest, martyred in Albania during the time of Ahmet Zogu.
“Both are well-known and greatly loved by Albanian Catholic believers from all regions, who consider them saints, pray to them, and even attribute miracles to their intercession with God,” emphasized the Archbishop of Shkodra-Pult. “One was killed in Kosovo and the other in Albania! The people of God living on both sides are celebrating today and thanking God for the gift of these two priests, witnesses of Christ’s Gospel and passionate patriots.”
The beatification ceremony is expected to take place within the year, Monsignor Massafra confirmed to the Albanian editorial office of Vatican News.
Father Luigj Palaj was captured and taken to the Gjakova prison. The Serbo-Montenegrins demanded that he renounce his faith and national identity. When he refused, they beat him savagely with sticks, spat on him, insulted him, and then brought him before a court that charged him with false accusations. He was finally killed on March 7, 1913, in Gjakova. “The barbarians… drowned him,” Father Gjergj Fishta wrote, dedicating a poem to his barbaric murder:
“The barbarians… drowned him! But he
Never hurt anyone;
Made no one cry:
His voice was never heard for evil;
For the Homeland and holy Faith
He worked righteously on this earth…”
Here is some history for readers from reliable ecclesiastical sources about these two martyrs, heroes of faith and nation, about whom readers may not know much, but who were declared as such by Pope Francis on June 20, 2024.
Father Luigj Palaj belonged to the Order of Friars Minor. He was arrested, beaten, tortured, and killed by barbaric Serbo-Montenegrin soldiers because he fought against the abuse of the Albanian population and opposed the official Serbo-Montenegrin campaign that forced Albanian Catholics and Muslims to change their religions and become Orthodox. Luigj Palaj was born in Janjeva, Kosovo, on February 20, 1877. He grew up in a religious family. Luigj himself sought to be accepted into the seminary of the Order of Friars Minor in Cortemaggiore, Italy, where he was ordained a priest in 1901. He was sent to perform his religious service among the Albanians, and in 1907, he was appointed Rector of the Franciscan Convent in Gjakova. In 1912, he became an associate in the parish of Peja, a very difficult period for Albanians in that territory, which, after the First Balkan War, was occupied by the Montenegrins, allies of the Serbs.
Father Luigj Palaj defended both Catholic and Muslim Albanians from Slavic attempts at denationalization, supporting both groups and urging them to remain faithful to their religious beliefs and national identity. Although aware of the dangers he faced, Father Luigj Palaj stayed at his post and continued to perform his priestly service, remaining faithful to his religious and patriotic mission.
Ultimately, the Montenegrin authorities ordered the arrest of the Albanian Franciscan, Father Luigj Palaj, on March 4, 1913. Thrown into prison, the Franciscan was beaten and tortured until March 7, when, before being subjected to a trial and stripped of his religious garments, he was brutally murdered by Serbo-Montenegrin soldiers. Today, he has been declared a martyr of faith and the Homeland by Pope Francis in the Vatican.
Dom Gjon Gazulli, a courageous priest, was hanged by Ahmet Zogu after he opposed Zogu’s agreement with the Serbs for the so-called “personal union of Albania with Yugoslavia.” According to reliable ecclesiastical data, Gjon Gazulli (a well-known family name, passed down through generations in Albanian history since the time of Gjergj Kastrioti-Skanderbeg), was originally from a small village near Shkodra, from Dajçi i Zadrimës in Albania.
Born on March 26, 1893, he was ordained a diocesan priest in 1919. He served as a parish priest in Gjadër, Qelez of Puka, and Koman. According to the records, wherever he went, he won the love of the people, to whom he offered help and encouragement in the face of many problems of life.
After he opened a school in his parish for teaching the Catholic faith, he was monitored by the government for his supposed activities in hindering the joint education of Muslims and Christians. The political authorities viewed him with suspicion because of his strong influence among the locals and other parish priests, both morally and religiously. While many priests were leaving Albania at that time, refusing to submit to the regime established by President Ahmet Zogu, Dom Gazulli decided to stay with his people, to whom he had been entrusted.
But in the end, he was arrested on December 28, 1926, and subjected to a false trial, which condemned him on baseless charges, according to ecclesiastical and other sources. “He was hanged by Ahmet Zogu after he had opposed his agreement with the Serbs for the so-called ‘personal union of Albania with Yugoslavia,'” was one of the charges, among others. He who opened the first mixed school for boys and girls, Muslims and Christians, was sentenced to death. The opposition MP against Zogu was accused of having organized the Dukagjin rebellion and distributed weapons in the mountains, and even of supposedly cutting the telephone wire, as read in some sources about his tragic fate!? Dom Gjon Gazulli was hanged in a square in Shkodra on March 5, 1927.
Dom Gjon Gazulli from Albania, killed by the Ahmet Zogu regime in 1927 in Shkodra, and Father Luigj Palaj from Kosovo, killed by the Serbo-Montenegrin regime in 1913 in Gjakova, representatives of the long-suffering and despised Albanian Catholic Church in those lands, were declared martyrs and blessed by Pope Francis a few days ago—a great joy for the Catholic Church throughout the Albanian lands.
These two blessed individuals thus join the 38 blessed Albanian martyrs of the Catholic Church, who were killed and tortured by the barbaric half-century communist regime of Enver Hoxha and were declared as such in 2016 by the Vatican.
With their barbaric murder, these blessed Albanians have now transcended the national borders of Albanian lands and represent not only the universal Catholic Church but also the universal values of all humanity. With their sublime sacrifice, they are an example for all of us on how to defend honor, freedom, faith, and national identity against barbarians and dictators. Their example will forever remain an inspiration for future generations of Albanians, and not only, to fight, even giving their lives, for human and national ideals and values.
Ultimately, the declaration of these two blessed Albanian martyrs by Pope Francis convinces us that, despite the passage of time, sooner or later, truth, goodness, and justice will always triumph over evil in this world!/Memorie.al
