Roman Catholicism in Albania

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The information in this article is from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica and applies to Albania as it stood at the time of writing. For current information, see de:Katholische Kirche in Albanien

The Roman Catholic Church in Albania is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.

Around 10% of the population is Catholic — the third largest religious denomination after Islam and Orthodoxy.

There are five dioceses in the country, including two archdioceses plus an Apostolic Administration covering southern Albania.

For four centuries, the Albanian Catholics have defended their faith with the aid of:

• the Franciscan missionaries, especially since the middle of the seventeenth century, when persecutions by the Muslim lords set in motion the apostasy of many Albanian villages, particularly among the schismatic Greeks.

• the College of Propaganda at Rome, especially prominent in religious and moral support of Albanian Catholics. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, particularly, it educated young clerics for service on the Albanian missions, contributing then as now to their support and to that of the churches.

• the Austrian Government, which gives about five thousand dollars yearly to the Albanian missions, in its role of Protector of the Christian community under Turkish rule. Apropos of the Austrian interest in Albania, it may be stated that it is the Austrian ambassador who obtains from the Sultan the Berat, or civil document of institution, for the Catholic bishops of Albania (Neber, in K. L., XI, 18, 19).

The Church legislation of the Albanians was reformed by Pope Clement XI, effecting a general ecclesiastical visitation (1763) by the Archbishop of Antivari, at the close of which a national synod was held. Its decrees were printed by Propaganda (1705), and renewed in 1803 (Coll. Lucensis Conc. Recent., I, 283 sq.). In 1872, Pius IX caused a second national synod to be held at Scutari, for the renovation of the popular and ecclesiastical life.

Contents 1 Archiepiscopal Provinces 2 The role of Albanian women 3 The Cathedral of Scutari 4 Christian development 5 The Mirdite tribe 6 The Congress of Berlin and Albanian resistance 7 Yanina 8 Demographics 9 Sources 10 See also 11 External links

[edit] Archiepiscopal Provinces

Under Austrian rule Albania is divided ecclesiastically into several archiepiscopal provinces:

1. 'Antivari' (since 1878 a part of the principality of Montenegro; since 1886, without suffragans, and separated from Scutari, with which it had been united in 1867 on terms of equality), with a clail to the title of primate (religion)
2. 'Scutari', with the suffragan episcopal sees of Alessio, Pulati, Sappa and (since 1888) the Abbatia nullius of St. Alexander of Orosci
3. 'Durazzo'
4. 'Uskup'

The latter two are without suffragans, and depend immediately on the Holy See. A seminary, founded in 1858 by Archbishop Topich of Scutari, was destroyed by the Turks, but was later re­established on Austrian territory and placed under the imperial protection.

[edit] The role of Albanian women

In Scutari the Catholic women, as well as the Muslim woman (Muslimah), go veiled. The Albanian woman works unceasingly in the field and in the home. Every household care devolves upon her in the frequent absence of the men, who are either regular or irregular fighters in the Albanian bands. The women are dressed in tight skirts of light colour striped with black, and their heads and shoulders are covered on feast days with masses of gold and silver coins. In the Catholic churches, the women appear unveiled, and the humbler class generally remove their shoes at the entrance.

[edit] The Cathedral of Scutari

The service in the Cathedral of Scutari is most impressive, although primitive to an extreme degree. There is little quiet, for the congregation rasps out the responses with a fervour that precludes either modulation or rhythm, and the incessant rattle of the coins on the women's clothing as they bend forward and again kneel upright accompanies every intonation. The scarlet colour predominates in the altar decorations as well as in the clothes of the worshippers.

[edit] Christian development

The admirable work of the friars in dispelling the old vendetta custom is one of the chief factors in the evolution of this semi­barbaric race. The Albanians of today give the same promise of a vigorous Christian development as the Franks of the time of Clovis I, and it is characteristic of their steadfastness that no bribes or threats have succeeded in drawing them from their first allegiance. Every other race in the Balkans, with the exception of the Croats, went over to schism, but the Roman Catholic faith remained secure in the fastnesses of northern Albania. When one recalls that to adopt Islamism meant to become a lord and a recognized warrior, while to remain Christian meant to become a slave, deprived of the right to carry weapons, it is easily seen why so many Albanian tribes fell away.

[edit] The Mirdite tribe

The chief tribes of Upper Albania, the Shoshi and the Mirdites, are at once the pioneers of nationality and Catholicism. Long ago, the Mirdites were wont to carry off Turkish girls of good family and, after baptizing them, make them their wives. Thus, there is a strong strain of Turkish blood in the Catholic Mirdites of today.

This tribe has special privileges, such as the place of honour in the Sultan's army under the command of its own chieftain. In accepting a comradeship of arms with Muslim troops, it guards the creed and nationality with the same fidelity with which it serves the Sultan when called upon. The Mirdites, about 40,000 in number, and with a chief town of some four hundred houses, Orosci, treat on equal terms with the Porte.

The force of circumstances has driven the Albanian into fierce espousal of one or other of the causes that are periodically fought out between antagonists, and the success or defeat of which leaves his own condition almost unchanged. It was an Albanian who led the Greeks in the War of Independence, and again an Albanian who commanded the Turkish troops sent to quell the rebellion. The Kings of Naples kept an Albanian regiment styled the Royal Macedonian, and the famous resistance of Silistria in 1854 is due to dogged Albanian bravery. Courage and heroism are inborn qualities of this singular and gifted race.

[edit] The Congress of Berlin and Albanian resistance

The revival of the national aspirations of Albania dates from the Congress of Berlin (1878), when Austria, in order to compensate Serbia and Montenegro for her retention of the of Bosnia and Herzegovina, thought to divide the land of Albania between them. The Turks secretly fostered the opposition of both Mussulmans and Catholics, and the Albanian League was formed "for the maintenance of the country's integrity and the reconstitution of its independence".

The territories allotted to Serbia were already occupied by her troops when resistance broke forth, and the idea of dislodging them had to be abandoned; but Montenegro was unable to obtain possession of her share, the rich districts of Gusinie and Plava. The Albanians, undaunted by the unexpected opposition of their former allies, the Turks, now forced by Russia to assist Montenegro, stood against all their enemies with a determination that baffled and dismayed Europe. Mehemet Ali was routed, his house at Diakovo burned down, and himself massacred.

The Albanians had much to avenge. They had not yet forgotten the war of a century before when their women flung themselves by hundreds over the roads near Yamina to escape Ali Pasha's soldiers. The Turks finally relinquished their efforts to quell the movement they had themselves helped to bring about, and Montenegro had to contend itself with the barren tracts of the Boyana and the port of Dulcigno. She could not have aspired even to these, had not Russia, anxious to spread the doctrines of "Orthodoxy", advocated the dismemberment of Catholic and Mussulman Albania in favour of the Serbian race.

[edit] Yanina

After Scutari, Yanina is the largest and most interesting town of modern Albania. Near it are the ruins of the temple of Dodona, the cradle of pagan civilization in Greece. Dodona was an oracle which uttered its prophecies by interpreting the rustling of oak branches; the fame of its priestesses drew votaries from all parts of Greece. In this neighbourhood also dwelt the Pelagic tribes of Selles, or Helles, and the Graiki, whose names were afterwards taken to denote the Hellenes, or Greeks.

The plateau of Tanina is fertile and favourably situated for defense, and the inhabitants of the city have been able to develop many industries, such as the inlaying of metal, weaving gold-threaded stuffs, and the fabrication of firearms.

[edit] Demographics

It is difficult to get the exact statistics of any province of the Turkish Empire; estimates on the population of Albania vary from 1,200,000 to 1,600,000, of which 1,500,000 are strictly Albanian. In the Kirchenlex [(Freiburg, 1899), XI, 18], Father Neher estimates the population at about 1,400,000, one million of which is made up of Mussulmans. There are 318,000 members of the Greek schismatic church, and about 120,000 Catholics. It must be added that there are in Greece proper about 250,000 Albanians, and in Italy about 100,000, the latter being all Catholics. In summing up the characteristics of the race, there are two points on which travellers invariably agree: the chivalry toward the weakest of even the unreclaimed Albanian, and the spotless chastity of their women. For the rest, human life is as cheap as in all lands where individuals must depend on themselves for preservation. (See ANTIVARI, SCUTARY, DURAZZO, and the other dioceses of Albania.)

[edit] Sources

• LEAKE,Travels in Northern Greece (London, 1835)
• ELISÉE RECLUS,The Earth and its Inhabitants (New York, 1895, Eng. tr.): Europe, I, 115-126
• NIOX, Péninsule des Balkans
• DURHAM'S Travels
• WILKINSON, Dalmatia and Montenegro
• HERDER, Konvers. Lex., s. v.
• BONÉ, Turquie d'Europe (Paris, 1889)
• DEGRAND, Souvenirs (Paris, 1901)
• PORTAL, Note Albanesi (Palermo, 1903)

The documents of the medieval religious history of Albania are best found in the eight volumes of FARLATI, Illyricum Sacrum (Venice, 1751- 1819). See also Theiner, Vetera Monumenta Slavorum meridionalium historiam illustrantia (Rome, 1863 sqq.). Recent ecclesiastical statistics may be seen in O. WERNER, Orbis Terrarum Catholicus (Freiburg, 1890), 122-124, and 120; also in the latest edition of the Missiones Catholicæ (Rome, Propaganda Press, triennially).

[edit] See also

• Roman Catholicism by country
• Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church

[edit] External links

• Profile of the Catholic Church in Albania

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia.