Pal Engjëlli

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2006) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Pal Engjëlli (1416–1470) was an Albanian Catholic clergyman, Archbishop of Durrës and Cardinal of Albania who in 1462 wrote the first known sentence in Albanian.

This is the following formula of baptism (Albanian: Formula e Pagëzimit): Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spirit Senit. (I baptize thee in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.) The formula is found in a pastoral letter in Latin written by the Archbishop after his visitation to the Church of Holy Trinity in Mat. The letter is dated by November 8, 1462. The formula was meant to be used by Albanian priests in order to render the ritual understandable for people ignorant of Latin, attending the baptism. Probably it was meant also to be used by Albanian people in the countryside, unable to take their children to be baptized to a church.

The formula was approved by a synod in Mat in 1462.

The document containing the formula of baptism is held in Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence, Italy. There it was discovered in 1915 by the Romanian scholar Nicolae Iorga.

Engjëlli is Albanian for 'the angel'.

Pal Engjëlli is reported to have been a friend, co-worker and close counselor of Skanderbeg. As his envoy, he frequently traveled abroad, seeking for aid against Ottomans.