15. Martyrs of the Catholic Church

Martyrs of the Catholic Church

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One of the crimes of the communists in the first days of coming to power was the arrest, imprisonment and murder of clerics on the basis of false accusations and fabricated proof.

The Communists also used a ploy. A part of the clergy, who due to the complete lack of evidence, could not be sentenced to capital sentence, were sentenced to imprisonment for quite a few years, but even to them death was reserved in another way: taking them to work in the swamp of death where they drowned alive. Among the 38 known martyrs from the Vatican, 20 are sentenced to death by shootting and their burial place is still unknown.

The Ecclesiastical Court for the Case of the Martyrs in Shkodra, established to review the file of 38 martyrs who were beatified by the Vatican after 9 years of research, proves that during the communist regime in Albania 31 clergymen were shot, 8 others died under torture, 3 murdered without trial, 23 died in prisons and internment camps or shortly after torture, 66 other clerics were released from prison almost dead.

The State and State Security archives during the dictatorship were used for this data, while the biggest problem was the lack of data and documentation for many people who were executed without trial. Certificates were found, but the date of death on the day they were executed was not recorded in the registry.

The martyrs whose remains have been found:

Vinçenc Prenushi Anton Muzaj Serafin Koda Maria Tuçi Jul Bonati Ndre Zadeja Jak Bushati Ndoc Suma Dede Malaj Luigj Prendushi Gaspër Suma

Dom Ndre Zadeja: Priest and poet, shot without trial in the city of Shkodra, becoming the first martyr, victim of the communist dictatorship.

Monsignor Vinçenc Prennushi: Franciscan priest, bishop of Durrës, poet. He was imprisoned and tortured because he refused to detach the Albanian Church from the Holy Vatican. He breathed his last on March 19, 1949 in the prison dungeon, lying on the wet, cold, and barefoot, like St. Francis, whose son he was!

Monsignor Frano Gjini: Bishop. He was tortured in the most inhuman way, but again refused to detach the Church from the Pope. He was sentenced to death and shot on March 11, 1948.

Monsignor Jul Bonati: Intellectual priest, how he was locked up, for torture, in a madhouse and how he experienced unheard horrors in various cells of the bad-famed Sigurimi State Security Service, from Vlora to Durrës, died in the Durrës prison, near Monsignor Prenushi, who gave him the meal for the last pilgrimage: Holy Mourning.

Dom Alfons Tracki: The German priest, more Albanian than the Albanians, son of Breslau, was tortured and shot on June 25, 1946, at the age of 50.

Father Gjon Shllaku: The philosopher friar, who was shot together with the Jesuits Father Gjovani Fausti (Italian missionary) and Father Daniel Dajani as well as with the seminarian Mark Çuni, at the beginning of the communist massacre against the Catholic clergy. They were accused of “attempting to escape” and of forming the Christian Democratic Party. The Albanian State has awarded the decoration “Martyr of Democracy” to all four.

Dom Anton Muzaj: He was tortured inhumanely, just because he refused to deny religion. As they broke his legs and arms, they released him from prison and sent home, where he died amid terrible pain a few days later, at the age of 29.

Dom Anton Zogaj: Parish priest of Durrës, Secretary of Monsignor Prennushi, a priest prepared in all dimensions, was imprisoned and cruelly tortured. They left him locked up for a few days in a stinking bathroom while waiting for the day of the shooting: December 31, 1946.

Dom Dedë Malaj: Remained unforgettable in the memory of the people for the defense he did to the Christian religion in the trial organized against him, which sentenced him to death. He was shot on the shores of Shkodra Lake on May 12, 1959. He was 39 years old.

Dom Dedë Maçaj: Accused of being a Vatican spy, he was tortured, tried and shot for his religious resistance, at the age of 27.

Dom Dedë Plani: He passed away in hospital on April 30, 1949, after accepting no charges and resisting cruel torture.

Dom Ejëll Deda: Parish priest of Bushat, arrested for the reason that he was a priest. He died on May 12, 1948 in the hospital of the prison due to inhuman tortures.

Dom Jak Bushati: He was accused of helping the saboteurs, of agitation and propaganda: pretexts which led to his shooting without trial on February 12, 1949.

Pope Joseph Mihali: Arrested and tortured only on this charge. He drowned alive in the mud of the swamp, in the extermination camp of Maliq.

Dom Zef Maksen: German priest, shot in 1946, uttering the words: “I die happy, thinking that I will be remembered by Albanians as a priest of the Christ’s religion”.

Dom Lazër Shantoja: Priest, man of culture, literature and art. He was massacred to such an extent that his mother asked the communist executioners to shoot him as soon as possible, which they did not fail to do in the deserted areas of Tirana, when he was 54 years old.

Dom Lekë Sirdani: Personality of the Catholic Church: priest, patriot, writer. He was brutally tortured and drowned alive in a sewage pit.

Dom Luigj Prendushi: Arrested, tortured and shot as a Vatican spy on January 24, 1947.

Dom Marin Shkurti: Consecrated a priest in 1961, he served for a short time in the Church with open doors and longer in that of silence: he dared to continue the priestly service in the times of terror. He was arrested, tortured and shot in 1969.

Dom Mark Gjani: Arrested for his priestly activity and extinguished during the tortures at the hands of his executioners in the prison cell, in 1945.

Dom Mikel Beltoja: He was shot on February 10, 1974, after defending openly his religious ideals in the trial that took place after six months of torture, which sentenced him to death.

Dom Ndoc Suma: He died 2 years after he was released, devastated from prison, where he was tortured on charges for which he said: “Only when I went to court did I find out why I was arrested.”

Dom Pjetër Çuni: Priest; died hanging upside down over the sewage pit.

Dom Shtjefën Kurti: Priest, shot in front of the inhabitants of Gurëz. Sigurimi, the security service accused him of wanting to poison the people by using the bakeries for this.

Father Bernardin Palaj: The great friar and poet, died in the Assembly of the Franciscans in Shkodra, converted into a prison for 700 people. Under Security Service torture he got sick of tetanus. He was the first collector of the Eposi i Kreshnikeve, a prominent mythologist, but also a talented musician and pianist.

Father Çiprian Nika: Franciscan priest, died under the defamatory accusation that he had hidden a weapon in the altar of Shna Ndou, in the Franciscan Church of Gjuhadol.

Father Gaspër Suma: A regular, a progeny of a family that was wiped out by the communists, he was arrested in 1947 and died in prison.

Father Karl Serreqi: The friar who refused to tell the story of a wounded man in the matches with the communists in the mountains, spent his life in prison. Died in Burrel on April 4, 1954. He is one of the few martyrs of the confession secret in the history of the universal Church.

Father Mati Prendushi: The friar who took part in the flag raising in Deçiq, was persecuted and pardoned by King Nicholas and King Zog, but was sentenced to death by the so-called communist “trial”. His grave is still unknown.

Father Serafin Koda: Franciscan friar; breathed his last when communist investigators not being fed up with the usual torture, tore his throat with their fingernails.

Brother John Pantalia: Jesuit priest; was arrested among the first and died in hospital, after suffering indescribable horrors.

Maria Tuci: Young girl. They tortured her tied in a sack with a cat, they beaten the sack with a stick and the cat scratched the girl with its nails. Virgin and martyr, the girl breathed her last with extraordinary torment.

Fran Miraka, Qerim Sadiku and Gjelosh Lulashi, young people who were educated among the Jesuits; were killed just because they loved Christ.