Ernest Simoni
Ernest Simoni | |
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Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria della Scala | |
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Church | Roman Catholic Church |
Archdiocese | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Shkodër-Pult |
Province | Shkoder-Pult |
Metropolis | Archdiocese of Shkodër-Pult |
Diocese | Shkodër-Pult |
Appointed | 19 November 2016 |
Installed | 11 February 2017 |
Predecessor | Stanisław Nagy |
Orders | |
Ordination | 7 April 1956 |
Created cardinal | 19 November 2016 by Pope Francis |
Rank | Cardinal-Deacon |
Personal details | |
Birth name | Ernest Simoni |
Born | Troshani, Albania | 18 October 1928
Nationality | Albanian |
Denomination | Catholic (Latin Rite) |
Motto | Albanian: Zemra jeme dotë triumfojë (My Immaculate Heart will Triumph) |
Coat of arms | ![]() |
Styles of Ernest Simoni | |
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Reference style | His Eminence |
Spoken style | Your Eminence |
Informal style | Cardinal |
Ernest Simoni Troshani (born 18 October 1928) is an Albanian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
He was created a cardinal in a consistory held on 19 November 2016 by Pope Francis.[1]
Life[]
Ernest Simoni was born in 1928.
He entered the Franciscan seminary in 1938 while remaining there until 1948 when the Communist regime of Enver Hoxha closed the college in a wave of anti-religious sentiment and persecution. He was ordained to the priesthood on 7 April 1956.
On 24 December 1963 he was imprisoned by the Communist authorities because he celebrated a Mass in memory of assassinated President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He was sentenced to death, but the sentence was converted into a prison term and he spent 28 years at penal labour, first in a mine and then in a sewage canal.[2] He celebrated Mass using smuggled bread and grapes. By the late 1990s, he exercised his ministry in several Albanian villages.
On 21 September 2014 he met Pope Francis during his apostolic visit to Albania and provided the pope with his own testimony on his experiences under the Communist regime.[3]
On 9 October 2016,[4] Pope Francis announced that he would create Simoni a cardinal in the consistory held on 19 November of the same year.[5] Canon 351 of the Code of Canon Law requires that all cardinals must be bishops, but Simoni was given a papal dispensation from the requirement of episcopal consecration.[6]
At the consistory, he was assigned the titular church of Santa Maria della Scala. As of 2019, he hadn't received yet the episcopal consecration.[7]
Honors[]
In 2017, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented at an awards ceremony in London.[8][9]
References[]
- ^ "Il Papa annuncia un concistoro per il 19 novembre" (in Italian). La Stampa. 9 October 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
- ^ Glatz, Carol (11 October 2016). "This priest's story of persecution brought Pope Francis to tears. Now he's making him a cardinal". America. Catholic News Service. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
- ^ "Paoline Ufficio Stampa – Don Ernest Simoni". paoline.it. 9 October 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
- ^ "Mgr Ernest Simoni, simple curé nommé cardinal albanais". lalibre.be. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
- ^ "Da sacerdote a cardinale: ecco chi è Ernest Simoni, uno dei 17 nuovi porporati voluti dal Papa" (in Italian). ilsole24ore.com. 9 October 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
- ^ Cardinale, Gianni (27 November 2020). "Ecco i nuovi cardinali: nomi, storie, numeri e novità" (in Italian). Retrieved 28 March 2021.
- ^ "Don Ernest Simoni all'ospedale San Giovanni". Diocese of Rome. 25 March 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
- ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
- ^ "2017 Summit Highlights Photo".
Two members of the Class of 2017: fashion designer Valentino Garavani, the “Living Martyr” of Albania, Cardinal Ernest Simoni, with the Academy’s 52nd annual International Achievement Summit Host, Catherine B. Reynolds.
- Additional sources
- "Albania's new cardinal: a priest who spent 28 years in labour camps". Catholic Herald. Associated Press. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
External links[]
Quotations related to Ernest Simoni at Wikiquote
Media related to Ernest Simoni at Wikimedia Commons
- "Simoni Card. Ernest". Holy See Press Office. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
- Glatz, Carol (11 October 2016). "This priest's story of persecution brought Pope Francis to tears. Now he's making him a cardinal". America. Catholic News Service. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
- Speech delivered in September 2014 during the visit of Pope Francis to Albania, Rome Reports, 17 November 2016
- 1928 births
- Living people
- Albanian cardinals
- 20th-century Roman Catholic priests
- 21st-century Roman Catholic priests
- Cardinals created by Pope Francis
- People from Lezhë County