First Albanian book to return home for independence centenary

TIRANA, Nov. 15 – The first book written and published in Albanian, a 188-page translation of the Catholic missal, of the mid 16th century will be in Albania next year when the country celebrates its 100th anniversary independence. This was confirmed this week Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, Pontifical Council for Culture, who this week visited Albania as part of Vatican’s Courtyard of the Gentiles’ project.
“I believe the return of the book will be possible, the procedures are now being examined by the Vatican Library,” said the Cardinal during a meeting with Albanian Culture Minister Aldo Bumci.
Known as Meshari (The Missal) the book was written by Gjon Buzuku, a northern Albanian Catholic cleric, who probably lived in or around Venice.
“Since the frontispiece and the first sixteen pages of the only copy of the book we possess, preserved in the Vatican Library, are missing, we unfortunately know neither its exact title nor its place of publication. In Albanian, it is known simply as the Meshari (The Missal), and was written in 1555. The scant information we do possess about the author comes from the colophon (postscript) of the missal which Buzuku wrote himself in Albanian, not unaware of the historic dimensions of his undertaking,” says Albanian studies specialist Robert Elsie.