⛪ Saint of the Day : March 4
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| Blessed John Shllaku, Pray for us ! |
⛪ Born :
• 2 September 1925 in Shosh, ShkodrΓ©, Albania
⛪ Died :
• 4 March 1946 in ShkodrΓ©, Albania
Franciscan of Albanian nationality :
NikollΓ« or KolΓ« (Albanian for Nicholas) Shllaku was born in Scutari in Albania on July 27, 1907. Since primary school he attended the college held by the Friars Minor in his city. He entered as a postulant of the same Order in the convent of Troshan, at fifteen; with religious profession he assumed the name of fra Gjon (in Italian Giovanni).
He was sent to theological studies in Holland, where he was ordained a priest in 1931. Later, from 1932 to 1936, he attended the theological faculty of Louvain, earning a doctorate in theology.
Patriot and academic :
Returning to Scutari, he taught Philosophy and French at the high school Illyrikum, of which he had previously been a pupil. His intellectual and spiritual caliber soon made him known among his students and beyond.
With the Italian occupation of Albania, he chose the road to exile in Yugoslavia. A year later he returned home, taking over the magazine «Hylli i Drites» («Stella del Mattino»). In his openly polemical articles, he pointed out the risks of Marxist and Fascist ideologies. Nonetheless, he invited his young students to non-violent resistance and not to give in to revenge.
At the death, in 1940, of Father Gjergj Fishta, a leading exponent of Albanian Franciscanism, Father Gjon took his place as moral leader of the religious community. He then organized a series of conferences on Marxist materialism, where he responded point by point to the controversies, remaining faithful to the teaching of the Church.
The Beginnings of the persecution :
The Albanian political situation, meanwhile, began to change with the seizure of power by Enver Hoxha and with the ever more evident persecution of believers of all faiths. The fury was particularly fierce, among Catholics, towards the Jesuits and the Franciscans; the latter were targeted for their attempts to consolidate the Albanian popular soul.
Father Gjon had immediately sensed the aims of the new regime and had been warned by some Catholics, aggregated to the communists for fear or ambition, that his name was on the list of priests to be killed. To the young people who surrounded him in search of advice he could then answer: "Now this will be my path and I will not be the first nor the last, unfortunately. Let us pray that God will give us the strength and courage to face martyrdom ".
The arrest and the process :
The excuse to silence it occurred when the Albanian Union was discovered, which was nothing but the pseudonym with which two students from Scutari Seminary, Mark Γuni and Gjergj Bici, had signed some flyers with which they had tried to fight the communist propaganda. Initially printed on their own in secret with the mimeograph of the Seminary, they were then issued by the typography of the friars; however, none of the superiors, either Jesuits or Franciscans, knew about it.
Father Gjon was then arrested during the winter of 1945. After weeks of torture, in January 1946, along with other prisoners, he was subjected to a trial that, in reality, had the written conclusion.
The charges that were addressed were that of being the head of the Albanian Union, of collaborating with the resistance of the inhabitants of the mountains to the north of the country and of planning the foundation of the Albanian Christian Democracy. In addition, the alleged organization of the "Black Plot" against the government was added, in complicity with the Vatican, Great Britain and the United States.
Martyrdom :
On February 22, 1946 the sentences were read. Eight were sentenced to death by shooting: father Gjon Shllaku, father Giovanni Fausti, father Daniel Dajani, seminarians Mark Γuni and Gjergj Bici, laity Gjelosh Lulashi, Fran Mirakaj and Qerim Sadiku. The others were instead destined to prison, for a period that could go from five years to the whole life, in fact, if they had even minimally transgressed. For Gjergj Bici the sentence was then changed into years of forced labor, while Fran Mirakaj is reported to have died in September 1946.
At dawn on March 4, the six remained transported to the Catholic cemetery of Scutari, where they were executed. At 6 o'clock the order was given to fire the eight soldiers of the platoon, armed with machine guns.
Father Gjon then pronounced his last words: "Give my farewell to my Franciscan brothers and to all those I know and who know me." The common cry of the condemned was: "Long live Christ the King! Long live Albania! "
The fame of holiness and Beatification :
With the collapse of the regime and the resumption of religious activities in the light of the sun, during a ceremony organized on 28 February 1993 by the Albanian democratic government, it was conferred the title of "martyr of democracy".
In the list of 38 martyrs killed under the communist regime in Albania and headed by the bishop Vincenç Prennushi, also a Franciscan, also father Gjon Shllaku and his companions. They were all beatified on November 5, 2016 in the square in front of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Shkoder.