The Center for Arbëresh Studies and Publications commemorated today, on the 82nd anniversary of his passing, the Arbëresh scholar Pal Skiroi.

Born in 1866 in Horën e Arbëreshëvet (Piana degli Albanesi), Sicily, Skiroi pursued his studies at the Arbëresh seminary in Palermo, where he would later become rector. In 1912, he founded the Arbëresh Sunday magazine Fjala e t’in Zoti, a religious publication that also served as a school and center of patriotism for many Arbëresh youths.

Pal Skiroi was the author of numerous religious translations, which were primarily published in this magazine between 1912 and 1915.

He is recognized for his merit in rediscovering the Meshari by Gjon Buzuku, the first book written in the Albanian language, completed in 1555. Skiroi photocopied the text between 1909 and 1910 and prepared a transliteration, although this study was not published in full. His final work was the translation of the Liturgy of San Giovanni Crisostomo in 1964 in Palermo. He passed away on September 12, 1941, in Horën e Arbëreshëvet.

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