Rrok Mirdita

His Excellency
Rrok Kolë Mirdita
Archbishop of Tiranë-Durrës
Primate of Albania
Church Roman Catholic
Archdiocese Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tiranë-Durrës
Appointed 25 December 1992
Installed 25 April 1993
Term ended 7 December 2015
Predecessor Nikollë Vinçenc Prennushi
Orders
Ordination 2 July 1965
by Aleksandar Tokic
Consecration 25 April 1993
by Pope John Paul II
Rank Metropolitan Archbishop
Personal details
Born (1939-09-28)September 28, 1939
Klezna, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (present day Montenegro)
Died December 7, 2015(2015-12-07) (aged 76)
Tirana, Albania
Nationality Albanian
Motto Ut omnes unum sint
Styles of
Rrok Mirdita
Reference style The Most Reverend
Spoken style Your Excellency
Religious style Monsignor
Posthumous style none

Rrok Kolë Mirdita (September 28, 1939 – December 7, 2015) was the Catholic Archbishop of Durrës-Tirana, and the Primate of Albania.[1]

Biography

He was ordained a priest on July 2, 1965, aged 25, and served in ethnic Albanian parishes in Bronx and Westchester counties of New York.

On December 25, 1992, aged 53, he was appointed the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tiranë-Durrës and consecrated on April 25, 1993, by Pope John Paul II and Cardinals Camillo Ruini and Jozef Tomko, along with three other bishops (Zef Simoni, Frano Illia and Robert Ashta) during the Pope's pastoral visit to Albania. Mirdita was the President of Albanian Bishops Conference and the Chairman of Caritas Albania.

On his initiative St. Paul's Cathedral was built in Tirana. Its triangular architecture, according to the Archbishop's idea, symbolizes the cohabitation of Islam, Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism in Albania. The first Holy Mass in the new cathedral was celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican's Secretary of State, and Archbishop Mirdita on January 27, 2002. The Archbishop's house was built next to the Orthodox cathedral and at Christmas 1999, Mirdita and the Orthodox Archbishop Anastasios (Anastas) greeted parishioners together. Rrok Mirdita is Honorary Citizen of Tirana, Albania.

He died at Mother Teresa Hospital in Tirana on 7 December 2015.[1]

References

Photos

Catholic Church titles
New title Archbishop of Tiranë-Durrës
1993 2015
Vacant


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