Lazër Mjeda (1869–1935) was an ethnic Albanian

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

and

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

of the Catholic Church in Albania, and a member of the Mjeda family.

Biography

Lazër (Llazar) Mjeda was born in

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra; historically known as Scodra or Scutari) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, fifth-most-populous city of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. Shkodër has been List of o ...

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

— present-day

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

— on March 6, 1869. From 1900 to 1904 he was the Bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Sapë The Diocese of Sapë (, ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholicism in Albania, Catholic Church in Northern Albania. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolis (religious juri ...

, while from 1905 to 1909 he was the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shkodër. During this time, the Catholic Church also made him the

Titular Archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

for the Diocese of Areopolis. From mid 1909 till late 1921, Mjeda was the Archbishop of the Diocese of Skopje. During the 1912-1913

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

, his detailed report of

Serbian war crimes The following articles deal with Serbian war crimes: * Expulsion of the Albanians, 1877–1878 * Serbian war crimes in the Balkan Wars * Massacres of Albanians in World War I * The Holocaust in German-occupied Serbia * Romani Holocaust#Serbia, Roma ...

, widespread massacres, and

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it ...

against both Albanian Catholics and Muslims in his Diocese was carefully investigated by the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Office and ruled to be a credible source. From 1921 he was the Archbishop of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Shkodër-Pult Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

. Mjeda was member of the

literary society A literary society is a group of people interested in literature. In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote one genre of writing or a specific author. Modern literary societies typically promote research, publish newslet ...

Society for the Unity of the Albanian Language Shoqnia e Bashkimit të Gjuhës Shqipe (Society for the Unity of the Albanian Language), usually known as the Shoqnia Bashkimi ( The Union Society) , or simply Bashkimi i Shkodrës (The Union of Shkodra) was a literary society founded in Shkodra, ...

(,Bashkimi i Shkodrës), creator of ''Bashkimi'' alphabet, one of the main

Albanian alphabet The Albanian alphabet () is a variant of the Latin alphabet used to write the Albanian language. It consists of 36 letters representing all the phonemes of Standard Albanian: The vowels are shown in bold. The letters are named simply by their ...

s discussed in the

Congress of Monastir The Congress of Manastir () was an academic conference held in the city of Manastir (now Bitola) from November 14 to 22, 1908, with the goal of standardizing the Albanian alphabet. November 22 is now a commemorative day in Albania, Kosovo and ...

of 1908.

References

Sources

*Albert Ramaj: ''LAZËR MJEDA NË ARGJIPESHKVINË SHKUP-PRIZREN MES 1909-1921 (Sipas arkivit Austriak, emërimi tij, laramanizmi, largimi nga Prizreni)'' (S. 47-172) in: IMZOT LAZËR MJEDA- Mbrojtës dhe lëvrues i identitetit shqiptar, St. Gallen 2011 () {{DEFAULTSORT:Mjeda, Llazar 1869 births 1935 deaths Bishops of Skopje 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Albania 19th-century Albanian Roman Catholic priests Lazër Religious leaders from Shkodër People from Scutari vilayet Activists of the Albanian National Awakening

Biography

See also

References

Sources