FINDING THE ALMOST LOST PIECES OF A SPIRITUAL MOSAIC

NGA GONXHE BOJAXHIU DERI TE NËNË TEREZA FROM GONXHE BOJAXHIU TO MOTHER THERESA

Review:

FINDING THE ALMOST LOST PIECES OF A SPIRITUAL MOSAIC

The book "From Gonxhe Bojaxhiu to Mother Teresa - a saga about the life of the Albanian Catholics from Skopje" is coming as a continuous effort of the Institute for Spiritual and Cultural Heritage of the Albanians in Skopje, in order to return to its proper binary the studies and scientific research on a tradition more or less denied, but never forgotten. This is also due to the fact that the book we have in our hands is now a continuation of a work started two years ago, when the publication of the thematic corpus on the Catholic Albanians from Skopje began.

Skopje of Dardania and its geopolitical and commercial crossroads couldn’t be out of the focus of this book as well, and the characters that take place within the covers of this book are part of the bright gallery of our national personalities, such as the Bojaxhiu family, and especially the head of the family Kole Bojaxhiu, who will later be known as the father of the great humanist and missionary, Gonxhe Bojaxhiu - Mother Teresa. This last one is the alpha and omega of the thematic preoccupation of the authors of the book, in which case many unknown details from her life will come to light, especially the relations she had with her family and the Albanian state.

The documentary and archival aspect within, makes this book more credible in the eyes of the reader, due to the fact that in addition to providing a more extensive picture of the individual stories of Albanian Catholic families in Skopje, in this book for the first time are going to be published some important documents, photographs and facsimiles, including the original letters of Mother Teresa, sent to her family.

This is a very useful contribution for the Albanian historiography, especially at a time when in solitary cases, there is no lack of amateur efforts to write about events and personalities without going through the necessary filters of scientific verification. Therefore, the importance of this

book lies in the effect it can produce in raising factual and interdisciplinary standards, as a prerequisite for genuine scientific research.

As such, this book, in addition to a broader horizon that brings to the reader, can serve as a valuable reference source for scholars, with all the attributes of a model school that is being created within the ISCHA, promoted and established by the director and historian Prof.dr. Skender Asani.

The team that prepared this book, along with the authors, deserve the highest consideration for their dedicated work in finding the almost lost pieces of a spiritual mosaic that is now becoming complete within the covers of this important book.

Mehmet PRISHTINA Skopje, july 2020