Biography
An Intellectual Genesis
Father Gjergj Fishta (1871 to 1940)
Father Fishta is the greatest figure of Albanian literature in the first half of the twentieth century. He received his early education in the Franciscan schools of Troshan and Shkodër, and in 1886, he was sent by the Franciscans to Bosnia. In the Franciscan seminaries and institutes of Sutjeska, Livno, and Kreševo, he studied theology, philosophy, and foreign languages, especially Latin, Italian, and Serbo-Croatian. In 1894, Gjergj Fishta was ordained as a priest.
After returning to Albania, he began working as a teacher at the Franciscan college in Troshan. In 1899, he collaborated with Monsignor Preng Doçi (1846 to 1917), the Abbot of Mirdita, Dom Ndoc Nikaj (1864 to 1951), and the historian Father Pashko Bardhi (1870 to 1948), with whom he founded the literary society Bashkimi of Shkodër.
Timeline
In 1902, he was appointed director of the Franciscan school in Shkodër, where Albanian was the main language of instruction.
In 1908, he took part in the Congress of Manastir, chairing the commission that would determine the best version among the proposed Albanian alphabets.
In October 1913, he founded the Franciscan monthly Hylli i Dritës.
From December 1916 to November 1918, he published the Shkodër newspaper Posta e Shqypniës.
In 1916, he was one of the intellectual authorities of the Albanian Literary Commission.
In August 1919, Gjergj Fishta was appointed General Secretary of the Albanian Delegation at the Paris Peace Conference.
In 1921, he was Director of Collegium Illyricum (Illyrian College), which had become the main educational institution in northern Albania.
In 1921, he represented Shkodër in the Albanian Parliament and was elected its deputy speaker.
He represented Albania at the Balkan conferences in Athens (1930), Sofia (1931), and Bucharest (1932).
From 1935 to 1938, he was elected provincial of the Franciscan Province of Our Lady of the Annunciation.
Honours & Posthumous Decorations
Father Gjergj Fishta was honoured with distinctions such as:
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The Austro-Hungarian Ritterkreuz in 1911
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Al Merito from Pope Pius XI in 1925
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The prestigious Phoenix Medal from the Greek government
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Lector jubilatus honoris causae from the Franciscan Order
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Membership in the Italian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1939
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The National Flag Decoration, by Decree No. 11888, dated 30 December 1996, of the President of the Republic.
His complete works were published recently by Botimet Françeskane, which also holds the full rights to the author’s works.
During his lifetime, he also published in 15 newspapers and magazines of the time, both inside and outside the country.
Father Fishta was also the first Albanian candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
National Flag Decoration. 1996
The National Flag Decoration (Albanian: Dekorata e Flamurit Kombëtar) is one of the highest decorations to be given in Albania, among the Civil awards and decorations of Albania, and was instituted by special law Nr.8113, of 28 March 1996
Order of Franz Joseph. 1849
The Imperial Austrian Order of Franz Joseph (German: Kaiserlich-Österreichischer Franz-Joseph-Orden) was founded by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria on 2 December 1849, on the first anniversary of his accession to the imperial throne.
The Order of the Phoenix. 1926
The Order of the Phoenix (Greek: Τάγμα του Φοίνικος, romanized: Tágma tou Foínikos) is an order of Greece, established on 13 May 1926, by the republican government of the Second Hellenic Republic to replace the defunct Royal Order of George I.
