Albanian was an official language of the Vatican: Altimari

 Francesco Altimari

 During the visit on November 11, 2022, of Professor Francesco Altimari to the Department of Albanian Language and Literature at the University of Calabria, we learned how this department works and some others where Albanian is studied in different parts of Italy, he also had some serious remarks as belongs to some important dates related to the national language and culture. In particular, he had serious remarks regarding March 7 - Teacher's Day, namely the opening of the Albanian school, because as Professor Francesco Altimari says. "Albanian schools were opened by Lekë Matranga as early as 1592", Albanian Diaspora reports.

Here are Altimari's words as captured by the cameraman Skender Hasani, who accompanied us during this trip:

"According to a document of the Vatican, from the 18th century, thanks to the intervention of these clerics, Albanian appears as the official language of the Vatican in two official acts together with Greek and Latin. In other words, they gave internationally recognized status to Albanian, but due to the Turkish invaders, was forbidden to be written and studied. These things should be noted. Even today we continue to celebrate March 7, which is a date that makes no sense, when a sultan allows us to open a school in the mother tongue. To continue to celebrate this date in the Albanian world is a shame. Here Albanian schools were opened by Lekë Matranga as early as 1592, therefore our history should be completely reviewed. We should not continue to perform rituals to secular processes that must be radically revised".

Wikipedia also recorded the fact about the opening of the Albanian school by Lekë Matranga: "Lekë Matrënga was an Arber priest from Hora e Arbëreshevet, the largest Arber place in Sicily, Italy. A student at the College of St. Athanasius in Rome and the Byzantine Greek Pope of the Eparchy, he founded a school in his native place.

Who is Francesco Altimari?
 

Altimari was born on 21 February 1955 in San Demetrio Corone in Calabria, Italy and is of Arbëreshë descent. After finishing the lyceum in his hometown in 1973, he graduated from the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy of the University of Calabria in 1978. Altimari worked as a teacher of the Albanian language (1980–1986). From 1991 is full professor in Albanology in the University of Calabria; he started his academical career in the field of Albanian language, literature, and philology, and Balkanic philology and linguistics, first associated with the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy of the University of Calabria, and followed later by University of Mannheim and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich via German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale", "Cattolica" of Milan, as well as universities in Lecce, Trieste, Tirana, Shkodër, and Gjirokastër.