Arbëni Council

Council of Arbanon

Kuvendi i Arbënit
Formation	14 January 1703 (1703-01-14)
Purpose	To affirm the position of the Catholic Church in Albania and to stem the tide of conversions to Islam.
Location	Mërqia, Lezhë (present day Albania)

The Council of Arbanon (Albanian: Kuvendi i Arbënit) was a synod of the Catholic Church held in Mërqia, three kilometers north of present-day Lezhë, on 14–15 January 1703, to affirm the position of the Catholic Church in Albania and to stem the tide of conversions to Islam.

Background

The conference was organized during the reign of Pope Clement XI Albani (r. 1700–1721), himself of Albanian origin, and was held under the direction and in the presence of the Croatian archbishop Vincentius Zmajevich (1670–1745) of Bar, who was “apostolic visitor” of Albania, Serbia, and Macedonia. The council was attended by about 200 Catholic dignitaries to discuss the state of the Church, prevent further conversions to Islam, and settle serious property disputes among the various parishes. Both the opening speech by Zmajevich and the resolutions taken by the council were made in Albanian. The records of the meeting, which are of historical, linguistic, and ecclesiastical significance, were sent to Rome for papal inspection and published in Albanian and Latin by the Propaganda Fide in 1706, with the assistance of Francesco Maria Da Lecce O.F.M. They constitute an important source of our knowledge of the language of northern Albania in the early 18th century.