Albanian Pontifical Seminary

Albanian Pontifical Seminary (Albanian: Kolegjia Papnore Shqyptare) is a Jesuit seminary located in Shkoder, Albania.

It opened first in 1859 in Shkoder, then the center of Scutari Vilayet of Ottoman Empire. In 1870, the seminary brought to life its own printing press called "Press of the Immaculate Virgin" (Albanian: Shtypshkroja e Zojes s'Paperlyeme).^[1] The press printed in 1876 its own book, Christian Doctrine (Albanian: Dotrina e kerscten) of Engjell Radoja (1820-1880), which would be followed by many others.^[2]

With the rise of Communism in Albania, the Jesuits would be targets of persecution. The college's rector Father Daniel Dajani would be arrested together with Father Gjon Fausti (vice-provincial of the Jesuits) on December 31, 1945.^[3] They were executed on 4 March 1946. In April 1946, the authorities closed down all Jesuit institutions and the Jesuit Order was outlawed.^[4] With the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Albania and the Holy See in 1991, the college reopened in October of the same year.^[4]

Alumni

• Ndoc Nikaj, writer and historian
• Preng Doçi, anti-Ottoman activist and poet
• Lazër Shantoja, Saint, poet, and translator

See also

• Jesuits in Albania
• Religion in Albania
• Roman Catholicism in Albania
• List of Jesuit sites

References

1. Robert Elsie (2010), Historical Dictionary of Albania, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, vol. 75 (2 ed.), Scarecrow Press, p. 213, ISBN 978-0810861886
2. Robert Elsie (2001), A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk Culture, NYU Press, p. 132, ISBN 978-0814722145
3. Owen Pearson (2006), Albania in the Twentieth Century, A History, vol. II: Albania in Occupation and War, 1939–45, I. B. Tauris, p. 493, ISBN 978-1845110147
4. Sabrina P. Ramet (1998), Nihil Obstat: Religion, Politics, and Social Change in East-Central Europe and Russia, Duke University Press Books, pp. 214, 224, ISBN 978-0822320708