From the Depths of Hell I Saw Jesus on the Cross: A Priest in the Prisons of Communist Albania
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Communist Albania Confessor of the Faith Twenty-six years in prison First public Mass · 1990 Paperback & hardcover
This is one of the most urgent testimonies in the Arouca Press catalogue: a confession written by the man who bore the handcuffs, the prison cell, the hunger, the interrogations, and the cross.
martyrdom · memory · anti-communism · Albania · priesthood · the Cross
✠ OVERVIEW ✠The great merit of this very lively work is that it was written not by a journalist or an outside personality who knew Dom Simon Jubani, but by the victim himself. There is no other book of this quality on the subject. Albania is a country little known abroad. Under the communist regime, it was forbidden to go there except in the framework of agreements and official exchanges between the Governments.
Of all the countries of Eastern Europe that have lived under the Communist yoke, this is the one where the persecution against the Catholic Church has been the most violent. It was led by Enver Hoxha, a brutal and bloodthirsty dictator trained in French universities. Albania was declared the world's first atheist State in 1967. All the churches were destroyed.
In this book, Dom Simon Jubani recounts his life and twenty-six years spent in the communist prisons of Albania. He suffered so many acts of torture that he lost all his teeth. He heroically celebrated the first public Mass in Albania on November 4, 1990, which heralded the fall of the dictatorship the following year.
Dom Simon Jubani was the most famous Albanian priest of his time, both at home and abroad. He was persecuted and thrown into prison under the communist Albanian regime for having celebrated baptisms.
—Dominique Combette
The title’s force
Jubani saw hell: the prison, the ideology, the torture, the attempt to erase God from a nation. But from that depth he saw Christ on the Cross, and therefore saw suffering transfigured by faith.
❦ WHY THIS BOOK MATTERS ❦A victim’s testimony
The book was written by the priest who endured the prisons and lived to bear witness.
The Catholic Church under terror
The memoir shows how atheistic communism sought to govern Albania by destroying worship, memory, and the public claims of God.
A priestly soul
Even in prison, Jubani remained a priest of the altar, confession, prayer, Mary, and the Cross of Christ.
A warning for the free
The book reminds Western readers that liberty is fragile and that ideologies can quickly become engines of persecution.
✠ ✧ ✠Dom Simon Jubani is remembered as “the man of the prisons” and as the priest chosen by God to give public sacramental witness at the moment Albania began to receive freedom again.
✦ A FEW LINES FROM THE BOOK ✦From the testimony
“I served 26 years in prison; I lived by the miracle of daily prayer to Mary.”
First public Mass
“God conquered and liberated, by my priestly hands, the country from dictatorship.”
Translator’s Foreword
“He survived with his integrity, personality, sense of humor, and faith all intact.”
Preface
“Dom Simon was a true man of God and of the Cross.”
❦ INSIDE THE VOLUME ❦The prison years
Handcuffs, interrogation, torture, Burrel Prison, isolation cells, spying, hunger, and the machinery of communist terror.
The Church in Albania
The book includes appendices on the Church in Albania and the thirty-eight Catholic martyrs of communism.
The return of public worship
Jubani recounts the first public Mass on November 4, 1990, followed by homilies and reflections after the collapse of the idols.
Photos and maps
The volume includes additional photographs and maps, including images of Jubani after prison and his apostolic work.
✦ BOOK DETAILS ✦Title
From the Depths of Hell I Saw Jesus on the Cross
Subtitle
A Priest in the Prisons of Communist Albania
Author
Dom Simon Jubani
Translator
Joseph Bamberg
Paperback ISBN
978-1-989905-76-0
Hardcover ISBN
978-1-989905-77-7
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Front matter 27 chapters Appendices Maps and photos 250+ pages
The contents move from witness and context into the prison narrative itself: vocation, espionage, handcuffs, torture, Burrel Prison, isolation, release, renewed arrest, the first public Mass, the collapse of idols, and the memory of Albania’s martyrs.
testimony · persecution · prisons · liberation · martyrs · memory
✠ OPENING TESTIMONIES ✠ix
Presentation and Endorsement
xi
Motivation to read this book
xiii
Endorsement for Albanian edition
xv
Preface
xxiii
Foreword to the Albanian Edition
xxix
Translator’s Foreword
❦ THE MEMOIR ❦Chapters 1–6
Origins and Vocation
Autobiography; Call to the Religious Life; A Zoo that Is Called Albania; In Tirana in 1947; The Martyr Archbishop Ernest Çoba; “Ghegs and Tosks Are One Nation: Separation Does Not Make Sense!”
pp. 1–23
Chapters 7–12
Arrest and Violence
Reprisals; Exemplary Models; Espionage; Psychological Arrests; In Handcuffs; Torture.
pp. 31–63
Chapters 13–18
Burrel Prison and Inner Resistance
Burrel Prison; The Isolation Cell; The Organization of Spying in Burrel Prison; Comedy Hour; Dreaming with Wide-open Eyes; The French Revolution and the Albanian Clergy.
pp. 77–123
Chapters 19–22
Release and Renewed Suspicion
The Dissidence; Released; The Fantasy of Suspicion; The Arrest.
pp. 143–163
Chapters 23–24
The Return of Public Worship
The First Mass on November 4, 1990; Three Homilies among Hundreds of Others.
pp. 173–179
Chapters 25–27
After the Idols
Collapse of Idols; Epilogue on Earth: The Farce of Albanian Democracy; Epilogue in Heaven: My God, Where Do I Go Now?
pp. 193–205
✦ COMPLETE CHAPTER LIST ✦1. Autobiography 12. Call to the Religious Life 93. A Zoo that Is Called Albania 134. In Tirana in 1947 175. The Martyr Archbishop Ernest Çoba 196. “Ghegs and Tosks Are One Nation: Separation Does Not Make Sense!” 237. Reprisals 318. Exemplary Models 399. Espionage 4310. Psychological Arrests 4511. In Handcuffs 4912. Torture 6313. Burrel Prison 7714. The Isolation Cell 8315. The Organization of Spying in Burrel Prison 10116. Comedy Hour 11117. Dreaming with Wide-open Eyes 11718. The French Revolution and the Albanian Clergy 12319. The Dissidence 14320. Released 14721. The Fantasy of Suspicion 15722. The Arrest 16323. The First Mass on November 4, 1990 17324. Three Homilies among Hundreds of Others 17925. Collapse of Idols 19326. Epilogue on Earth: The Farce of Albanian Democracy 19527. Epilogue in Heaven: My God, Where Do I Go Now? 205❦ FINAL MATERIALS AND APPENDICES ❦213
A Last Word by Ana Luka
219
Afterword by Dominique Combette
223
Appendix A: The Church in Albania
231
Appendix B: The 38 Catholic Martyrs of Communism in Albania
237
Appendix C: Maps and Additional Photos
265
About the Translator
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The dissemination of Dom Simon Jubani’s testimony of faith, who was a priest in our Archdiocese during his lifetime, offers everyone with good will the possibility to discover or better know the terrible experience under Enver Hoxha’s communist dictatorship in Albania. Through the eyes of this priest, who was one of the most affirmed and well-known figures in our country and overseas, the reader will thoroughly understand what these years meant for our country. I sincerely hope that this publication will touch the souls and consciences of the greatest number of people possible so that history does not repeat the atrocities committed in Albania during the dictatorship. —✠ Archbishop Angelo Massafra, OFM, Metropolitan Archbishop of Shkodër-Pult
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