The obelisk for the first Albanian cardinal Mikel Koliqi is inaugurated

In the village of Gjaze in Lushnja, where the first cardinal of the Albanian Catholic Church, Mikel Koliqi, suffered under the communist regime, an obelisk was inaugurated in his honor.

Cardinal Koliqi is one of the brightest figures of the Albanian Catholic Church, who spent 20 years in prison and another 23 years in the internment and forced labor camps of the communist dictatorship.

In Gjaza, a small village in the immense plain of Lushnja, there are still traces of the buildings where the internees stayed during the communist regime, although the shelters have started to open and many buildings have been demolished or transformed.

In one of them, very close to the road, Mikel Koliqi, who was 75 years old, lived for eight years in poverty and solitude, where, according to the testimonies of the time, the State Security forces arrested him.

Simon Mirakaj, who suffered in this camp, remembers the day of Mikel Koliq's arrest and highly appreciates his figure.

"We had a TV installed in the cinema room and we were watching a football match. In the last moments of the match, two operatives entered with two automatic weapons. We were stunned. After the game we went home and collected the pictures and put them under a tree in the yard. We called my brother's daughter who was seven or eight years old. We told him to go look at the license plate of the car that arrived. The license plate "01" belonged to the jeep of the Department of Internal Affairs of that time. She didn't delay and comes crying," says: uncle Dom Mikel Koliqi was arrested."

While Muhamet Nela, who lived in Gjaze, says that he often went to take lessons from Dom Mikeli, who knew 8 languages ​​and conveyed to young people an extraordinary culture.

"Mikle Koliq and Nuredin Kelmendi entered this room where we are conducting the interview. After finishing six hours of lessons at the gymnasium in Krutje, I came straight here, I didn't go home just to take lessons illegally from Dom Mikeli. He was polyhedral. He knew eight languages ​​thoroughly and he knew the writers of those languages ​​thoroughly. He also had a deep knowledge of music."

Very close to the place where Mikel Koliqi lived in internment under the auspices of the President of the National Union for the Integration of Former Political Prisoners, Besim Ndregjoni, an obelisk was inaugurated in his honor.

Mr. Ndregjoni says that the First Albanian Cardinal of the Catholic Church is an enlightened figure not only of the religion but also of the Albanian nation.

"I thought that this prominent figure will honor Lushnja, will honor Gjaza. He spent 21 years of his internment in all Lushnaj internment camps. Mikel Koliqi belongs to that constellation of the 20th century who gave everything for the nation, and we, their descendants, apologize to Mikel Koliqi today that after 30 years since he was declared Cardinal, we are erecting this magnificent obelisk."

While the mayor of Lushnja Eriselda Sefa highly valued the role of Mikel Koliq.

"Dom Mikel Koliqi, with the simplicity of the great man who accompanied him throughout his life, experienced the ordeal of suffering for decades through imprisonment and exile for the sole reason, because he believed in God."

While the apostolic nuncio in Albania, Luigi Bonazzi brought the greetings of Pope Francis to this ceremony and commemorated the dedication that Pope John Paul II made to Mikel Koliq.

Even the Archbishop of the Albanian Catholic Church, Angelo Massafra, appreciated the figure of Mikel Koliqi not only as a cleric, but also as a musician and publicist, recalling the message that Mikel Koliqi left when he was declared Cardinal.

"First of all, let's have unity. Let's not look at dasas and grudges. Let's not look at personal interests, but look at the good of the people and the nation."

After his third arrest in Gjaza, Mikel Koliqi was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the communist regime, of which he served 11 years and was released from prison due to his 86-year-old age.

According to Mikel Koliq's own testimony, throughout his life he spent 20 years in the terrible prisons of communism and another 23 years in the internment camps, starting from the terrible camp of Beden in Kavaja and continuing in Pojan in Korça, in the mountainous areas of Vlora and then in Gjaz of Lushnja.

Pope John Paul II named Mikle Kolić "Monsignor" in January 1992, and ordained him "Cardinal" at the age of 92 on November 26, 1994 in the Vatican.

Mikel Koliqi thus became the first Albanian to be elevated to the Holy College of Cardinals, the highest body of the Roman Catholic Church

"Imprisoned and hindered for many years in the exercise of his priestly mission," "he, like a strong oak, was never afraid, becoming a shining example of faith," Pope John Paul wrote on the eve of his death.

After the fall of communism, Mikel Koliqi was honored with the title "Mother Teresa" and just a few days before his death, with the highest title "Honour of the Nation". VOA