A procession from St. Stephen’s Cathedral to the Catholic cemetery of Rrmaj marked the 10th anniversary of the beatification of 38 Albanian martyrs, organized by the Catholic Church in Shkodër. Numerous believers joined the march to honor the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for their faith during the communist persecution. At the end of the procession, at the Rrmaj cemetery, where on 4 November 1990 Fr. Simon Jubani celebrated the first public Mass after 23 years of a ban on religion, a moment of remembrance and prayer was held. This historic event marked the return of the public practice of faith in Albania.
The Archbishop of Shkodër, Mons. Giovanni Peragine, in his message to the faithful, stressed that the testimony of the martyrs should serve as inspiration for the life of the Church today. “We must strive for our Church to be beautiful and respected. It is we who will sanctify our Church with our conduct”, Peragine said, adding that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of a new Christianity.” He emphasized that the Church that lives today is precisely the one for which the martyrs dreamed, served and gave their lives. Ten years ago, on 5 November 2016, in the square of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Shkodër, the ceremony of the beatification of 38 Albanian martyrs took place, among whom was also Archbishop Vincens Prenushi.
On this anniversary, Peragine invited the faithful to reflect on their responsibility as Christians and the witness they must give in society. “We are invited to think about our baptism, about the responsibility each of us has to bear witness to Christ and to proclaim the beauty of the Christian life,” the archbishop stressed. The procession to Rrmaj thus became a tribute to the 38 martyrs, but also a reminder of the resilience of faith in the face of persecution and of the sacrifice of Catholic clergy and believers during the communist dictatorship.
