Picture: Kel Marubi · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Lazër Shantoja

Albanian Catholic priest

BlessedAlbania

Feast: 5 March (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)

Born

1892

Died

1945

Beatified

—

not on record

Canonised

—

not yet

Who they were

Lazër Shantoja (7 July 1891 – 5 March 1945) was an Albanian blessed, publicist, poet, satirist, and translator into Albanian from Goethe, Schiller and Leopardi, as well as his country's first Esperantist. He was one of the first Catholic priests, arrested by the communist government, and the first Albanian priest that was shot by a firing squad. He was accepted by the Catholic Church as a martyr in 2016, part of the Martyrs of Albania.

Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), until this page is written up in full.

The miracles

Limited information is available on this saint so far.

Why that counted as sanctity

Limited information is available on this saint so far.

The cause

Lazër Shantoja has been beatified; the cause continues. Favours received, and offers of help, go to the postulation, the office that carries the cause forward: Archdiocese of Shkoder: Blessed Lazer Shantoja.

A miracle approved by the Holy See is needed for the next step. Reporting one begins with the postulation.

Sources

Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - Martiri Albanesi — "A essere fucilati per primi, nel marzo 1945, furono don Lazer Shantoja e don Ndre Zadeja"; among the 38 Albanian martyrs beatified 5 November 2016.
Wikidata Q20559852 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
English Wikipedia — Lazër Shantoja (CC BY-SA)

Not yet written up in full. The Catholic source above names this person; the name, dates and step come from Wikidata and are not yet checked against Church records.