Dom Simon Jubani

Dom Simon Jubani (8 March 1927 – 12 July 2011) was a Catholic priest and Albanian political prisoner confined in Burrel Prison for 26 years during the regime of Enver Hoxha.[1][2]

Early career and imprisonment

Jubani, brother of Dom Lazer who was poisoned in 1982, was born in Shkodër, a city in Northwestern Albania with a large Catholic population, to a devoted Catholic family.[3] He entered seminary in 1943. He was ordained in 1958 and then arrested in 1963 while serving at the Abbey of Mirëdita, in a nearby province, for practicing the Catholic religion. In Burrel Prison he was kept in a 12 by 24 foot cell with 30 other prisoners and beaten brutally when he refused to work in the mines.[2] Practicing religion in Albania became illegal in 1967 and many religious leaders were tortured, killed, or imprisoned for practicing their faith publicly. Dom Simon wrote a memoir of his time in prison, titled Burgjet e mia.

After release

Jubani was released on 13 April 1989, along with other imprisoned Catholic priests. On 4 November 1990, Jubani celebrated the first public mass since the fall of Hoxha's regime, defying the law;[4] 300 people attended. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of San Francisco in 1991, honored as a "Protagonist of a new era in Albania".[5]

Jubani died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 12 July 2011 at the Regional Hospital in Shkodër.[6][7]

Publications

  • Burgjet e mia, 2001 [8]
  • Du fond de l'enfer, j'ai vu Jésus en croix, Éditions Docteur angélique, 2021 ISBN 978-2-918303-37-4
  • From the Depths of Hell I Saw Jesus on the Cross: A Priest in the Prisons of Communist Albania, Arouca Press, 2021 ISBN 978-1-989905-76-0
  • Dal profondo dell’inferno ho visto Gesù crocifisso, Edizioni Cantagalli, 2024 ISBN 9791259623942
  • Aus der Tiefe der Hölle habe ich Jesus am Kreuz gesehen - Ein Priester in den kommunistischen Gefängnissen Albaniens, Medien-GmbH Heiligenkreuz, 2023 ISBN 978-3903602410 [9]
  • З глибин пекла я бачив Ісуса на Хресті, Дом Сімон Ювані, 2022 ISBN 978-966-658-483-3

References

  1. ^ "From the Depths of Hell I Saw Jesus on the Cross". Google Books. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
  2. ^ a b "A Light Out of the Prisons of Atheist Albania". European Conservative. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
  3. ^ Logoreci, Pjeter. "The unknown story of the rebel friar". Memorie Albania. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
  4. ^ "Historic 1990 Shkodra Mass commemorated". Tirana Times. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
  5. ^ "American Religious Refuge From Communism: An Albanian Catholic's Story", Center for Islamic Pluralism.
  6. ^ Ndahet nga jeta Dom Simon Jubani, koha.net.
  7. ^ Ndahet nga jeta Dom Simon Jubani, Balkanweb.com - Kulturë.
  8. ^ "Burgjet e mia, Dom Simon Jubani". Shtepiae Librit. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
  9. ^ Amazon website, Aus der Tiefe der Hölle habe ich Jesus am Kreuz gesehen: Ein Priester in den kommunistischen Gefängnissen Albaniens
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