Bardhi was born in
Kallmet or
Nënshat in the northern Albanian
Zadrima region near
Lezhë. He came from a family consisting of many figures high in the hierarchy of the
Catholic Church and state officials or military commanders of the
Republic of Venice. His uncle was the Bishop of Sapa and Sarda. He studied
theology in
Italy. On 17 December 1635, during the papacy of
Pope Urban VIII, Bardhi was appointed
Bishop of Sapë. On 30 March 1636, he was
consecrated bishop by
Ciriaco Rocci,
Cardinal-Priest of
San Salvatore in Lauro, with
Giovanni Battista Altieri,
Bishop Emeritus of Camerino, and
Ottavio Broglia,
Bishop of Asti, serving as
co-consecrators. Bardhi also wrote a biography of
Skanderbeg, called
The Apology of Scanderbeg, published in
Venice in 1636. The Apology of Scanderbeg was a polemic against the Slavic Catholic priest
Ivan Tomko Mrnavić, who claimed that Kastrioti was of Slav origin. Bardhi also complained that the
Albanian language "was being lost and degenerating" under the blows of foreign occupiers, and in order to preserve it, he saw himself contributing to the missing of national pride among Albanians. From 1637 on, Bardhi submitted reports in Italian and Latin to the Congregation of the
Propaganda Fide in
Rome, which contain a mine of information about his
diocese, political developments, Albanian customs and the structure and position of the Catholic Church in
Ottoman Albania. ==See also==