Franciscan friar, teacher, and publicist Father Çiprian Nika is commemorated today on the day of his death in 1948.

Father Çiprian Nika, who at baptism took the name Dede, was born in Shkodër on July 19, 1900. Orphaned at the age of five, he attended primary and secondary school with the friars in Shkodër, and completed his studies in Theology in Austria. He wore the Franciscan habit on October 16, 1916, and took solemn vows on September 16, 1921. On July 25, 1924, he was ordained a priest in the city of Rome, Italy. Throughout his life, he held several important roles, including teacher of novices and clerics, guardian and definer, provincial of the Franciscans (1938-1941), and guardian of the assembly of Shkodra from 1943 until the end of his life.

He was arrested together with Father Pal Dodaj from Janjeva, Yugoslavia, on the charge of placing and hiding weapons in the altar of the church, with the intention of carrying out an armed uprising.

On December 28, 1947, the jury headed by Misto Bllaci and three other members sentenced Father Çiprian Nika to death by firing squad. The decision was executed on March 11, 1948, outside the walls of the cemetery, at 5 o’clock in the morning, in Zallin of Kiri, in Shkodër.

His last words, written in the court record, were: “Long live Christ the King! We forgive our enemies. Albania does not die with us!”

On November 5, 2016, he was declared Blessed in the square in front of the Cathedral of Saint Stephen in Shkodër.

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