Father Klemnet Miraj, Catholic clergyman, director of the Archaeological Museum, was born in Selcë in Kelmendi. He studied at the Franciscan College of Kallmet. He was ordained a priest on September 1, 1907. In 1914, he began studying theology and philosophy at the Theological Faculty of the University of Graz. After finishing his studies he returned to his homeland and in 1920 he was appointed parish priest in Pejë. In 1921, he was arrested by the Serbs and brutally tortured. Four years later, in 1925, he was expelled from the borders of Yugoslavia. He settled in Shkodër. During all this time, he was also the director of the Archaeological Museum. He served in Rubik and, for many years, in Laç of Kurbin. During the war years, he was the vicar of Biza of Ishmi. He is one of the signatories of the new statute of the Albanian Catholic Church (1951). He was arrested in 1955, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He died as a result of torture, in the Burrel prison, in 1956. (In the photo: Klemnet Miraj)
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 353.
Photo: © https://www.facebook.com/krime.komuniste/photos/a.843436415684171/847501465277666
Graphic processing: AHCF
