Qerim Sadiku (12 February 1919 – 4 March 1946) was a Catholic

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

blessed Blessed may refer to: * The state of having received a blessing * Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified Film and television * ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...

who had converted from

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. He was executed by a firing squad in Shkodër along with clerics Danjel Dajani, Giovanni Fausti, Gjon Shllaku, Mark Çuni and Gjelosh Lulashi. He was accepted as a martyr by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in 2016, part of the

Martyrs of Albania The Martyrs of Albania were a collective group of 38 individuals killed during the Communist regime in Albania from 1945 until 1974 (all but five between 1945 and 1950). All were born at various times between 1874 and 1935; the group included Alb ...

Life

Sadiku was born in

Vusanje Vusanje ( sq, Vuthaj; cnr, Vusanje/Вусање) is a village in Gusinje Municipality, Montenegro. According to the 2003 census, the town had 648 inhabitants. Geography Vusanje is located within the Plav municipality, below the town of Gusinje. I ...

, Montenegro, then Kingdom of Yugoslavia, on 12 February 1919 and was baptized as a Catholic. He married a Catholic woman, Marije Vata, in September 1944. Sadiku was an anticommunist, an Albanian nationalist and had been a lieutenant in the

gendarmerie Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...

force under Zog I of Albania. During World War II he owned a shop in the Gjuhadol neighbourhood in Shkodër and did not become involved with politics until the end of the war. Although he had a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

name, he was a Catholic, and extremely devoted to attending church functions. In church he would stay mostly in a praying position, on his knees, rather than standing. He is also remembered for going often on pilgrimages with his wife to the St Anthony Church, a holy place in Albania. Sadiku was arrested and imprisoned in

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra) is the fifth-most-populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. The city sprawls across the Plain of Mbishkodra between the southern part of Lake Shkod ...

on 3 December 1945, on the accusations of not going to vote, distributing flyers for other people to abstain from voting, and for being a member of the Albanian Union, an organisation that was considered by the communists to be "fascist". On 22 February 1946, after the trial of the members of the Albanian Union he was sentenced to death. Sadiku was shot, at age 27, in the morning of 4 March 1946 at the Catholic Cemetery of Rrmaji in Shkodër by a firing squad of eight soldiers of the Albanian communist dictatorship government, along with clerics Danjel Dajani, Giovanni Fausti, Gjon Shllaku, Mark Çuni, and Gjelosh Lulashi. His last words were "I forgive those who may have hurt me. I forgive those who have sentenced me, as well as my executioners. Long live Christ our King. Long live Albania!"Di Pinto, 402 For the entire day, the bodies were left outside to terrorise the population. The following night, a mass grave was dug near the river bed, where the bodies were buried and covered with rubbish bins, in order to conceal the traces of the execution. Sadiku's child was born to Marije six months after he was killed. In 2016, Sadiku was accepted by the Catholic Church as a blessed, part of the

. The beatification ceremony was presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato at the Shkodër Cathedral, Albania.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sadiku, Qerim 1919 births 1946 deaths 20th-century Albanian clergy 20th-century executions by Albania 20th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 20th-century venerated Christians Albanian beatified people Albanian people executed by the communist regime Albanian Roman Catholics Beatifications by Pope Francis Converts to Roman Catholicism from Islam People from Plav, Montenegro People executed by Albania by firing squad