On the 97th anniversary of the Cardinal's birth

2025-10-18 22:32:00, Kulturë Albert Vataj

Ernest Troshani (Simon), a saint who walks among us, reminding us that God is not far away, but where man dares to forgive.

There are people who spend their lives quietly, without seeking anything for themselves, and yet, they become torches that illuminate the darkness of their time. One of them is Cardinal Ernest Troshani (Simoni), a name that today, on the 97th anniversary of his birth, stands as a silent monument of spiritual endurance, forgiveness and unconditional love for God and man.

Born on October 18, 1928 in Troshan, Lezha, he grew up in the spirit of the Franciscan Order, where at the age of ten he began the path of devotion and humility. He was a child who was entrusted to God, to later become living proof that faith can survive even when the world denies it, even when man faces his own hell.
Dom Ernest Troshan's life is a long journey through suffering, prisons, forced labor, torture and loss. But it is also a hymn to life, to endurance, to the power of the spirit that does not give up. He was arrested on Christmas Day 1963, at the age of 35, simply because he had celebrated a mass for the soul of American President John F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated a few weeks earlier in Dallas. It was a mass of prayer and reverence, but for the atheist regime it was considered a "crime against popular power".

In the dock, the young priest heard the prosecutor call him an "enemy of the people," while he himself remained silent, letting God speak for him. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison and forced labor. He went through the camps of Rubik, Laç, Elbasan, and Spaç, places that for many were the end of all hope, but for him they became a school of patience and forgiveness. "I don't know how we escaped," he recalls, "but it was God who saved us."
When he was released in December 1981, he walked ten hours to reach Shkodra. He no longer recognized his home, the people, or the city. But he held a deep peace in his soul. He who had spent almost three decades in chains, held no grudge. "Those who condemned me, those who testified against me, I have forgiven all of them, without asking any of them for forgiveness. Because only forgiveness sets you free."

Forgiveness for Dom Ernesti was not a gesture, but a way of life. It was the most beautiful story of a soul that had known hatred and had chosen love. In this confrontation, he did not emerge victorious as a man, but as a man of God.
In 1990, when Albania began to shake from the last shocks of the dictatorship, he was called back to the Internal Affairs Department. He was forced to wait for five hours, convinced that he would be arrested again. But fate had chosen differently: there, where he had once been convicted, he received the news that the churches would be opened. “They were the most beautiful words I have ever heard in my life,” he recalls. On June 30, 1990, in Velipojë, he celebrated the first mass after decades of closure. “That day,” he says, “was the happiest day of my life.”

But his greatness lies not only in the experience of pain, but in the way he turned pain into service. After '90, he sought neither revenge, nor recognition, nor glory. He simply continued to serve. With the humility of a shepherd who knows that the only glory is love.
In 2016, Pope Francis appointed him Cardinal, calling him “a living witness of forgiveness.” It was an act that transcended the church hierarchy, an honor for a priest who had not held high positions, but who had kept the very spirit of the Church alive. He became the second Albanian Cardinal, after Bishop Mikel Koliqi, and an example that holiness does not lie in visible greatness, but in the light that emanates from within.
Today, at the age of 97, he continues to be close to people, in the parish of Shën Prenda in Shkodra, where he celebrates Mass and practices the ancient rite of exorcism, as the last priest of a world that still believes that love can drive out evil from man.

He, who was once imprisoned for a mass, today prays for those who imprisoned him; he, who saw the face of evil, today gives people peace; he, who they tried to extinguish, has become an unquenchable light.
97 years of life. 97 years of light.
In his silence, there is more greatness than in any speech.
In his humility, more strength than in any power.
In his forgiveness, more freedom than in any victory.
Ernest Troshani (Simon), a saint who walks among us, reminding us that God is not far away, but where man dares to forgive.
97 years of blessing, light and example.
Albania bows in reverence before this man small in body, but immeasurable in spirit.