Gjergj Guzzeta, the founder of the Greek-Albanian Seminary of Palermo, died in Partinico (Italy), suffering from an illness that caused him blindness, in 1734. He was born in the village of Hora of Arbëreshë in Sicily (it. Piana degli Albanesi), in 1682. After the first years of school in his homeland, he continued his studies in Trapani, at the Jesuit college, where his older brother, Serafini, was also present. He entered the seminary of the archdiocese of Monreale, received his doctorate in theology and was kept in the Curia by Archbishop Francesco Del Giudice, as a translator of classical Greek. On December 5, 1706, with papal permission, he entered the Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in Palermo and on December 22, 1707, he was ordained a priest, changing from the Byzantine rite to the Latin one. During the first years of service, he devoted himself to preaching in Italian and Albanian. With the aim of preserving and protecting the cultural and religious traditions of the Arbëreshë communities of the Byzantine rite, in 1734 he founded the first Greek-Albanian Seminary in Palermo, for the formation of the clergy of the Arbëreshë areas. Always in Hora of Arbëreshë, together with his brother Father Antonio Brancato, he founded the College of Mary for the education of girls, for catechism in the Albanian and Italian languages and for liturgical celebrations in the Greek and Albanian languages. Father Guxeta laid the foundations for building the Arbëreshë culture, while the Albanian language and traditions were kept intact in Sicily. In his school, almost the entire intelligentsia of the Arbëreshë of the island was educated in a spirit that fully agreed with the religious and cultural heritage of the motherland. He is well known by Albanians as a priest who, with his writings, raised his voice in defense of the nation; as the one who provided the means for the establishment of the Palermo Seminary, which would become one of the main focus of Albanian culture and patriotism, the nursery of a constellation of outstanding writers and poets, all Catholics. (In the photo: Gjergj Guzzeta)
Text: https://www.vaticannews.va/
Photo: © https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gjergji_Guxeta
Graphic processing: AHCF
