| Italo-Albanian Catholic Church | |
|---|---|
 Byzantine Catholic mosaic of Christ Pantocrator in the Italo-Albanian Parish in Palermo, Sicily (Italy) | |
| Type | Particular church (sui iuris) |
| Classification | Christian |
| Orientation | Eastern Catholic |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Governance | Synod |
| Structure | Tri-ordinariate[1] |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Leader | |
| Associations | Dicastery for the Eastern Churches |
| Region | Southern Italy,Sicily,Lazio (Diaspora:Argentina,Brazil,United States; historically inAlbania,Corsica,Malta) |
| Liturgy | Byzantine Rite |
| Origin | 10 June 1732: Ordinariate of the Italo-Albanians of the Byzantine rite of Calabria appointed[2] |
| Branched from | Catholic Church |
| Congregations | 45 |
| Ministers | 82 priests, 5 deacons[3] |
| Other names |
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| Official website | |
| Part ofa series on |
| Albanians |
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Native communities Diaspora
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TheItalo-Albanian Catholic Church[a] orItalo-Albanian Byzantine-Catholic Church[5] is one of the 23Eastern Catholic Churches which, together with theLatin Church, comprise theCatholic Church. It is an autonomous (sui juris)particular church infull communion with thepope ofRome, directly subject to the RomanDicastery for the Oriental Churches. It follows theByzantine Rite, the ritual and spiritual traditions that are common in most of theEastern Orthodox Church. It uses two liturgical languages:Koine Greek, the traditional language of the Eastern Churches, andAlbanian[clarification needed], the native language of most of its adherents.
The Italo-Albanian Catholic Church extends its jurisdiction over theItalo-Albanian people, who are the descendants of the exiledAlbanians that fled to Italy in the 15th century under the pressure of theTurkish persecutions inAlbania,Epirus and theMorea (Peloponnese). For over five centuries, they have managed, as a diaspora, to retain theirlanguage, culture, customs and beliefs. Nowadays, they reside primarily inSouthern Italy (Abruzzo,Apulia,Basilicata,Calabria) and inSicily, as well as in Central Italy, where they are present only in the Monastery ofGrottaferrata in theLazio region. The Church also operates among the Italo-Albanian diaspora in North and South America. It has about 80,000 faithful. It does not have a metropolitan, but is instead led by two eparchs and a territorial abbot.
The Italo-Albanian Catholic Church considers itself the heir of the traditional Illyricum Church[specify] and is closely linked to theAlbanian Greek-Catholic Church, with which it shares a common history and traditions.[6] The fact that the church has never broken away from theSee of Rome is a rare testimony – another example being theMaronites – of the persistent unity of the church despite its diversity of traditions.[7][8]
TheByzantine rite was brought to Italy in the 15th century byAlbanian exiles fleeing fromAlbania,Epirus andMorea because of persecution by MuslimOttoman Turks. Italy had already known Eastern Christian rites in previous centuries, but these had since disappeared. The Albanians, Orthodox united inRome with theCouncil of Ferrara-Florence, brought with them language, customs, and belief, zealously keeping the Byzantine rite and naturally bridging between East and West (see Albanian missions in Albania in 1690-1769, contacts with Ohrid, Cretan Byzantine art and new missions of re-Christianization of Albania in 1900[9]).
The Italo-Albanian Catholic Church is therefore characterized by a specific ethnic group: theAlbanians of Italy,Arbëreshë orItalo-Albanesi. The Albanian ethno-linguistic group of Italy has managed to maintain its identity, having in the clergy the strongest guardian and the fulcrum of ethnic identification.
The only place where the Byzantine Rite remained in Italy was the Monastery ofGrottaferrata, an Italo-Greek foundation, which had become steadilylatinized through the centuries. The Albanians of Sicily and Calabria, from the eighteenth to the present, were bringing the monastery back to life, where most of its monks, abbots and students were and are Italo-Albanian.[10]
The conquest of Italy by theByzantine Empire in theGothic War (535–554) began a Byzantine period that included theByzantine domination of the papacy from 537 to 752.
It is uncertain whether the Byzantine Rite was followed in any diocese of Southern Italy or Sicily before the 8th century. The spread of Greek monasticism in Italy received a strong impulse from theRashidun Caliphate invasion ofthe Levant andEgypt, and later from theban on religious images or icons. The monks naturally retained their rite, and as the bishops were not infrequently chosen from their number, the diocesan liturgy, under favourable conditions, could easily be changed, especially since the Lombard occupation of the inland regions of Southern Italy cut off the Greeks in the South from communication with the Latin Church.[10]
When, in 726,Leo III the Isaurian withdrew Southern Italy from thepatriarchal jurisdiction ofRome and gave it to thePatriarch of Constantinople, the process of Hellenization became more rapid; it received a further impulse when, on account of theMuslim conquest of Sicily, Greeks and Hellenized Sicilians fled toCalabria andApulia. Still, it was not rapid enough to suit theByzantine emperors, who feared that those regions would once again fall under the influence of the West, as had theDuchy of Rome and theExarchate of Ravenna. Finally, after theSaxon emperors had made a formidable attempt to drive the Greeks from the peninsula, EmperorNikephoros II Phokas and the PatriarchPolyeuctus made it obligatory on the bishops, in 968, to adopt the Byzantine Rite. This order aroused lively opposition in some quarters, as atBari, under Bishop Giovanni. Nor was it executed in other places immediately and universally. Cassano andTaranto, for instance, are said to have always maintained the Roman Rite. AtTrani, in 983, Bishop Rodostamo was allowed to retain the Roman Rite, as a reward for aiding in the surrender of the city to the Greeks. In every diocese there were always some churches which never forsook the Roman Rite; on the other hand, long after the restoration of that rite, there remained Greek churches with native Greek clergy.[10]
The restoration of the Roman Rite began with theNorman conquest in the 11th century, especially in the first period of the conquest, whenNorman ecclesiastics were appointed bishops. Another potent factor was the reform ofPope Gregory VII, who in his efforts torepress marriage among the Latin clergy found no small obstacle in the example of the Greek priests. However, he and his successors recognized the Byzantine Rite and discipline wherever it was in legitimate possession. Moreover, the Latin bishops ordained the Greek as well as the Latin clergy. In the course of time the Norman princes gained the affection of their Greek subjects by respecting their rite, which had strong support in the numerousBasilian monasteries (in the 15th century there were still seven of them in theArchdiocese of Rossano alone). The Latinization of the dioceses was complete in the 16th century. Among those which held out longest for the Byzantine Rite wereAcerenza (and perhapsGravina), 1302;Gerace, 1467; Oppido, 1472 (when it was temporarily united to Gerace); Rossano, 1460;Gallipoli, 1513;Bova (to the time ofGregory XIII), etc. But even after that time, many Greek priests remained in some dioceses. In that ofOtranto, in 1583, there were still two hundred Greek priests, nearly all native. AtReggio,Calabria, Count Ruggiero in 1092 had given the Greeks the church of S. Maria della Cattolica, whose clergy had aProtopope, exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishop; this was the case until 1611. In 1695 there were in the same dioceses fifty-nine Greek priests; after thirty years there was only one. Rossano still had a Greek clergy in the 17th century. The few native Greek priests were afterwards absorbed in the tide of immigration (see below). Of the Basilian monasteries the only one left is that of Grottaferrata, near Rome. InSicily the Latinization was, for two reasons, accomplished more easily and radically. First, during Muslim rule most of the dioceses were left without bishops, so that the installation of Latin bishops encountered no difficulty; secondly, the Normans had come as liberators, and not as conquerors.[10]
Important Greek colonies, founded chiefly for commercial reasons, were located atVenice,Ancona (where they obtained fromClement VII andPaul III the church of S. Anna, which they lost in 1833, having been declared schismatical in 1797),Bari,Lecce (where, even in the 19th century, in the church of S. Nicola, Divine worship was carried on in the Greek tongue, though in the Roman Rite),Naples (where they have the church of SS. Pietro e Paolo, erected in 1526 by Tommaso Paleologo Assagni),Leghorn (where they have the church of the Annunziata, 1607).[10]
In Rome there was always a large colony observing the Greek Rite. From the end of the 6th century until the ninth and tenth there were several Greek monasteries among which wereCella Nova, near S. Saba; S. Erasmo;San Silvestro in Capite; the monastery next toSanta Maria Antiqua at the foot of the Palatine. Like other nations, the Greeks before the year 1000 had their ownschola at Rome. It was near the church ofSanta Maria in Cosmedin. Even in the pontifical liturgy - at least on some occasions - a few of the chanted passages were in Greek: the custom of singing the Epistle and Gospel in both Latin and Greek dates from that period.[10]
Besides the first large emigration of Albanians which took place between 1467 and 1470, after the death of the celebratedGjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg (when his great granddaughter,Erina Castriota who had become the Princess ofBisignano, invited her countrymen to theKingdom of Naples), there were two others, one underOttoman EmpireSultanSelim II (1566–1574), directed to the ports along theAdriatic Sea and toLivorno; the other about 1740. In the course of time, owing to assimilation with the surrounding population, the number of these Italo-Greeks diminished, and not a few of their villages became entirely Latin.[10]
To educate the clergy of these Greeks,Pope Gregory XIII founded in 1577 at Rome theGreek College ofSt. Athanasius, which served also for the Greek Catholics of the East and for theRuthenians, until a special college was instituted for the latter purpose byPope Leo XIII. Among the alumni of St. Athanasius was the celebratedLeo Allatius. Another Greek-Byzantine ecclesiastical college was founded atPiana degli Albanesi in 1715 by P. Giorgio Guzzetta, founder of an Oratory of celibate Greek-Byzantine clergy. AtFirmo the seminary of SS. Pietro e Paolo existed from 1663, erected by thePropaganda to supply priests forAlbania. It was suppressed in 1746. FinallyPope Clement XII, in 1736, founded the Corsini College in the ancient Abbey ofSan Benedetto Ullano in the charge of a resident bishop or archbishop of the Greek Rite. Later it was transferred in 1794 toSan Demetrio Corone, in the ancientBasilian monastery of S. Adriano. Since 1849, however, and especially since 1860, this college has lost its ecclesiastical character and is now secularized.[10]
Seminaries for the Albanians of Italy were set up inSan Benedetto Ullano, and then inSan Demetrio Corone, (Calabria) in 1732 and inPalermo,Sicily, in 1734.[11]
Until 1919, the Italo-Greeks were subject to the jurisdiction of the Latin diocesan bishops. However, the popes at times appointed atitular archbishop, resident in Rome, for the ordination of their priests. WhenClement XII established the Corsini College at San Benedetto Ullano in 1736, he placed it in charge of a resident bishop or archbishop of the Greek Rite.Pope Benedict XIV, in thepapal Bull "Etsi pastoralis" (1742), collected, co-ordinated and completed the various enactments of his predecessors, and this Bull was still law in 1910, regulating the transfer of clergy and lay people between the communities of the Greek Church and Latin Church, and specifying that children of mixed marriages would be subject to the Latin Church.[10]
On 6 February 1784, the pre-diocesanordinariate of the Albanians in Sicily was created, with Bishop Papàs Giorgio Stassi, titular Bishop of Lampsacus, first holding that position.[2]
By 1909, another Ordinary for the Greeks ofCalabria was residing atNaples.[10]
The 20th century saw the foundation in 1919 of theEparchy of Lungro (an Eastern Catholic bishopric) inCalabria,[12] which serves Byzantine-Rite Albanians in mainland Italy, and on 26 October 1937 of theEparchy of Piana dei Greci for those in Sicily promoted from the Ordinariate of Sicilia.[2] One month before the foundation of the Eparchy of Piana dei Greci in 1937, the Byzantine-RiteMonastery of Saint Mary of Grottaferrata, not far fromRome, was given the status of aterritorial abbacy, separating it from the jurisdiction of the local bishop.[13] In October 1940, the three ordinaries held an inter-eparchial synod for preserving their Byzantine traditions and unity with an Orthodox Church of Albania observation delegation.[11] On 25 October 1941, the Eparchy of Piana dei Greci was renamed as the Eparchy of Piana degli Abanesi / Eparkia or Eparhia e Horës së Arbëreshëvet.[2]
In 2004 and 2005, a second inter-eparchial synod was held in three sessions approving 10 documents for "the synod's theological and pastoral context, the use of Scripture, catechesis, liturgy, formation of clergy, canon law, ecumenical and interreligious relations, relations with other Eastern Catholic Churches, re-evangelization and mission." They were submitted to the Holy See and were still in dialogue as of mid-2007 in regards to their promulgation.[14]
There are three ecclesiastical jurisdictions composing the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church:
The eparchies themselves have not been organized as aMetropolitan church, and remain on an equal footing, directly subject to theHoly See.[2][12][13]Theseeparchies allow the ordination of married men as priests, and they also govern a fewLatin Church parishes within the respective territories of the eparchies.
As of 2010, the church's membership was estimated at approximately 61,000 faithful, with two bishops, 45 parishes, 82 priests, 5 deacons, and 207 religious brothers and sisters.[3]
In the church there are the following religious institutions: the Italo-Albanian Basilian Monks Order of Grottaferrata (present inLazio,Calabria andSicily), the Suore Collegine della Sacra Famiglia, and the congregation of the Italo-Albanian Basilian Sisters Figlie di Santa Macrina (present inSicily,Calabria,Albania andKosovo).
Italo-Albanian communities were formed in the cities ofMilan,Turin,Rome,Naples,Bari,Lecce,Crotone,Cosenza andPalermo, as well as in Switzerland, Germany, the United States, Canada,Argentina andBrazil. They depend, however, on Latin dioceses and only in some cases is the Byzantine liturgy celebrated. Over the centuries, albeit limited, there have been religious contacts between Albanians of Italy with the Christian East (monasteries ofCrete) andAlbania (Archdiocese ofShkodër,Durrës,Himarë). Important spiritual and cultural contributions have been made by themonks andhieromonks at theAbbey of Saint Mary ofGrottaferrata.
Outside of Italy, there are somediaspora communities Italo-Albanian organized in religious associations and parishes.
In the United States, some Italo-Albanian Catholic parishes fall under non-Italo-Albanian episcopal authorities. For example, the Italo-Greek Church of Our Lady of Wisdom inLas Vegas is under the jurisdiction of theByzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix,[16] and the Greek Catholic Mission of Our Lady of Grace in New York is under the jurisdiction of the LatinArchdiocese of New York.[14][17]
Media related toItalo-Albanian Greek-Catholic Church at Wikimedia CommonsItalo-Albanian Catholic Church | |||||||
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