Zef Simoni (1 December 1928 – 21 February 2009) was an
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 ...
prelate of the
Catholic Church who served as the auxiliary bishop of
Shkodër–Pult. He was a survivor of the persecution of Catholic clergy by the
People's Socialist Republic of Albania.
Biography
Born to a poor family 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 ...
, Simoni was ordained a priest on 9 February 1961. He was arrested in 1967 at the time of the
Albanian Cultural Revolution and imprisoned in
Spaç Prison
The Spaç Prison () was a political prison in Communist Albania at the village of Spaç. The former prison is listed as a second-category national monument. There were plans to turn the rapidly deteriorating site into a museum, but as of February ...
. An international symposium in May 2000 revealed the extent of the persecution, torture, and violence suffered there, which he compared to the
Mauthausen concentration camp. He documented the persecutions from 1944 to 1990 in his book ''Martirizimi i Kishës Katolike Shqiptare (1944–1990)'', which was translated into
Italian.
On 25 April 1993, Simoni was appointed titular bishop of
Bararus and auxiliary bishop of Shkodër. The titles were bestowed personally by
Pope John Paul II on Simoni and three other bishops who had survived the communist period.
On January 20, 2004, the Pope allowed him to resign. He was a member of the
Episcopal Conference of Albania.
Works
* ''Martirizimi i Kishës Katolik Shqiptare (1944–1990)'', Shkodër 1993.
** ''La persecuzione della Chiesa cattolica in Albania dal 1944 al 1990'', Shkodër, "Gjergj Fishta", 2000.
* ''Dritat në Errësine, Persekutimi i Kishës në Shqipni'', Shkodër 1994.
* ''Portrete Klerikësh Katolikë'', Tirana 1998.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simoni, Zef
1928 births
2009 deaths
Religious leaders from Shkodër
Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II
20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Albania
21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Albania