In Breg Mata was born Zef Bici, a Catholic clergyman and capitular vicar of the Archdiocese of Durrës. He attended primary school in the village of Gurëz (1927-1932). Two years later, in 1934, he began his studies at the Pontifical Seminary of Shkodra, where he continued with theology. On February 2, 1946, he was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of Shkodra. From November 6, 1946, until March 1952, he served as an assistant parish priest in Tirana, alongside Father Mark Dushi. In March 1952, he was appointed head of administration, personnel, and culture at the Headquarters of the Catholic Church in Shkodra. In 1955, he was dismissed from his duties at the Church Headquarters, and from January 1, 1956, he was put on leave. He served briefly as an assistant parish priest in Shiroka. On April 28, 1957, he returned to Tirana, replacing Father Mark Dushi. On September 12 of the same year, he was elected vicar capitular of the Archdiocese of Durrës. He remained in the parish of Tirana until November 1964 when he was arrested for buying contraband paper from a thief from the state enterprise “Mihal Duri.” After eight months of investigation, he was brought to trial, where he presented a tape recording of the entire paper purchase contract.
For this reason, he was released after three days, not acquitted, but with a court decision that sentencing him to the same number of days in prison as he had served. He was arrested again on July 4, 1967, accused of having connections “with Italian espionage and specifically with the chief agent Bartolini, an official of the Italian Embassy in Tirana.” On April 25, 1968, he was sentenced to death by firing squad for “high treason against the homeland” and as “an agent of the Vatican.” Despite suffering from cancer in the throat gland and having undergone two surgeries at the Tirana hospital, he was executed on May 10, 1968. His remains were found 25 years later, on September 12, 1993, in a field in Dobraç, and were buried in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Tirana. He was posthumously awarded the title of “Martyr of Democracy.” (In the photo: Zef Bici)
Text: Encyclopedic dictionary of victims of communist terror – Vol. I , “West Print”, Institute for the Study of Crimes and Consequences of Communism, Tirana, 2012, page 180-181.
Photo: © Xhoxhi L., personal archive
Graphic processing: AHCF
