Pope Josif Mihali (papamihali), Catholic cleric of the Byzantine rite, martyr of the Church, was born in Elbasan. He completed his studies at the “Benedict XI” seminary in Grotaferrata (Italy); he studied philosophy and theology at the seminary of St. Athanasius in Rome, where he was ordained on December 1, 1935. A year later he returned to Albania and was appointed parish priest of the church of St. Peter in Elbasan. He was arrested in 1945 and sent to Korça with forced labor. Exhausted from fatigue, since he could no longer work, he was buried alive in the Maliqi swamp, in 1948. He was declared a martyr of the Church by Pope Francis, in April 2016. (In the photo: Josif Mihali)
Text: Encyclopedic dictionary of victims of communist terror – Vol. V , “West Print”, Institute for the Study of Crimes and Consequences of Communism, Tirana, 2016, page 343.
Graphic processing: AHCF
