Gjelosh Lulashi

Gjelosh Lulashi (born September 2, 1925 in Shosh im Dukagjin , † March 4, 1946 in Shkodra ) was a Christian believer who was arrested and shot in the atheistic Albania of the Enver Hoxha regime. He is one of the Thirty-Eight Martyrs of Albania .

Life

Gjelosh Lulashi was born the son of Bajraktar of Shosh, the tribal leader. His family was considered magnanimous and brave and was known for their patriotism. Gjelosh Lulashi embarked on an officer career. As an officer he worked at the hospital in Shkodra, where he got in touch with some seminarians . In the course of the investigation into the so-called “Albanian Union”, a total of 38 people were arrested by the state security in November and December 1945 , including Gjelosh Lulashi. Eight death sentences were read out in the Rozafa cinema on February 22, 1946 , and Gjelosh Lulashi was among those convicted. On March 4, at 5 a.m. on March 4, the convicts were removed from prison in a military vehicle and taken to the rubbish dump behind the Catholic cemetery in Ramaj near Shkodra. There, the eight men had to hold hands, they were eight armed men under the eyes of the guards shot . The bodies remained lying on top of each other, probably as a deterrent to the population. The next night they were buried in a mass grave. The eight people shot were the priests Fr Giovanni Fausti SJ, Fr Daniel Dajani SJ, Fr Gjon Shllaku OFM as well as the seminarians Mark Cuni and Gjergj Bici, besides Gjelosh Lulashi, Qerim Sadiku and Gjon Vata were also lay people . (According to another source, Gjergj Bici was initially pardoned and released from the eight convicts, later he was again imprisoned for the rest of his life; Fran Miraka, however, was one of those shot on March 4th.)

Engagement in the Albanian Union

One of the lecturers at the Pontifical Seminary in Shkodra, Fr. Gjon Shllaku, OFM , wrote a satirical poem about the first secretary of the Communist Party in Shkodra, Tuk Jakova , which he read to the seminarians. A seminarian suggested that the text be printed and distributed as a tract , which happened in the first half of 1945. The two seminarians Mark Cuni and Gjergj Bici came up with the idea of ​​printing further tracts in view of the upcoming elections in December, in which they warned against sham elections. Your resistance group functioned as the "Albanian Union". This activity, which violated secular and ecclesiastical law, was kept secret from the leadership of the seminary, as Fr. Giovanni Fausti explained later in the proceedings. How justified the group's request was to warn against sham elections was shown in December: A representative of the Communist Party who was later imprisoned admitted that the papers with the votes against had been dumped in the urns of the pro-votes (for the Democratic Front).

beatification

The beatification of Gjelosh Lulashi and 37 other martyrs took place on November 5, 2016 in Shkodra. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints , Cardinal Angelo Amato , presided over the celebrations on behalf of Pope Francis .

literature

• Markus WE Peters: History of the Catholic Church in Albania 1919-1993. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-447-04784-4 .
• Pjetër Pepa: Tragjedia dhe Lavdia e Klerit Katolik në Shqipëri. Shtëpia Botuese 55, Tirana 2007, Vol. II, ISBN 978-99943-921-6-2 .
• At Zef Pllumi: Rrno vetëm për me tregue. Shtëpia Botuese 55, Tirana 2/2006, ISBN 99943-799-8-4 .

Web links

• Portrait of Gjelosh Lulashi on the site of the Archdiocese of Shkodra-Pult (Albanian)