Italo-Albanian Catholic Church

The Byzantine rite was brought to Italy in the 15th century by Albanian exiles fleeing from Albania, Epirus and Morea because of persecution by Muslim Ottoman Turks. Italy had already known Eastern Christian rites in previous centuries, but these had since disappeared. The Albanians, Orthodox united in Rome with the Council of Ferrara-Florence, brought with them language, customs, and belief, zealously keeping the Byzantine rite and naturally bridging between East and West (see Albanian missions in Albania in 1690-1769, contacts with Ohrid, Cretan Byzantine art and new missions of re-Christianization of Albania in 1900). The Italo-Albanian Catholic Church is therefore characterized by a specific ethnic group: the Albanians of Italy, Arbëreshë or Italo-Albanesi. The Albanian ethno-linguistic group of Italy has managed to maintain its identity, having in the clergy the strongest guardian and the fulcrum of ethnic identification. The only place where the Byzantine Rite remained in Italy was the Monastery of Grottaferrata, an Byzantine foundation, which had become steadily latinized through the centuries. The Albanians of Sicily and Calabria, from the eighteenth to the present, were bringing the monastery back to life, where most of its monks, abbots and students were and are Italo-Albanian. == History ==

Byzantine period The conquest of Italy by the Byzantine Empire in the Gothic War (535–554) began a Byzantine period that included the Byzantine domination of the papacy from 537 to 752. It is uncertain whether the Byzantine Rite was followed in any diocese of Southern Italy or Sicily before the 8th century. The spread of Greek monasticism in Italy received a strong impulse from the Rashidun Caliphate invasion of the Levant and Egypt, and later from the ban on religious images or icons. The monks naturally retained their rite, and as the bishops were not infrequently chosen from their number, the diocesan liturgy, under favourable conditions, could easily be changed, especially since the Lombard occupation of the inland regions of Southern Italy cut off the Greeks in the South from communication with the Latin Church. Ecclesiastical status during an Italo-Albanian wedding in Calabria Until 1919, the Italo-Greeks were subject to the jurisdiction of the Latin diocesan bishops. However, the popes at times appointed a titular archbishop, resident in Rome, for the ordination of their priests. When Clement XII established the Corsini College at San Benedetto Ullano in 1736, he placed it in charge of a resident bishop or archbishop of the Greek Rite. Pope Benedict XIV, in the papal Bull "Etsi pastoralis" (1742), collected, co-ordinated and completed the various enactments of his predecessors, and this Bull was still law in 1910, regulating the transfer of clergy and lay people between the communities of the Greek Church and Latin Church, and specifying that children of mixed marriages would be subject to the Latin Church. By 1909, another Ordinary for the Greeks of Calabria was residing at Naples. which serves Byzantine-Rite Albanians in mainland Italy, and on 26 October 1937 of the Eparchy of Piana dei Greci for those in Sicily promoted from the Ordinariate of Sicilia. In October 1940, the three ordinaries held an inter-eparchial synod for preserving their Byzantine traditions and unity with an Orthodox Church of Albania observation delegation. == Organisation ==

of the Albanians of the continental Italy of the Albanians of the insular Italy with Basilian monks from the Italo-Albanian communities There are three ecclesiastical jurisdictions composing the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church: • Eparchy of Lungro degli Italo-Albanesi • Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi • Territorial Abbacy of Santa Maria of Grottaferrata The eparchies themselves have not been organized as a Metropolitan church, and remain on an equal footing, directly subject to the Holy See. In the church there are the following religious institutions: the Italo-Albanian Basilian Monks Order of Grottaferrata (present in Lazio, Calabria and Sicily), the Suore Collegine della Sacra Famiglia, and the congregation of the Italo-Albanian Basilian Sisters Figlie di Santa Macrina (present in Sicily, Calabria, Albania and Kosovo). Italo-Albanian communities were formed in the cities of Milan, Turin, Rome, Naples, Bari, Lecce, Crotone, Cosenza and Palermo, as well as in Switzerland, Germany, the United States, Canada, Argentina and Brazil. They depend, however, on Latin dioceses and only in some cases is the Byzantine liturgy celebrated. Over the centuries, albeit limited, there have been religious contacts between Albanians of Italy with the Christian East (monasteries of Crete) and Albania (Archdiocese of Shkodër, Durrës, Himarë). Important spiritual and cultural contributions have been made by the monks and hieromonks at the Abbey of Saint Mary of Grottaferrata. Outside of Italy, there are some diaspora communities Italo-Albanian organized in religious associations and parishes. In the United States, some Italo-Albanian Catholic parishes fall under non-Italo-Albanian episcopal authorities. For example, the Italo-Greek Church of Our Lady of Wisdom in Las Vegas is under the jurisdiction of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix, and the Greek Catholic Mission of Our Lady of Grace in New York is under the jurisdiction of the Latin Archdiocese of New York. Current hierarchy of the Church The present Italo-Albanian Catholic episcopate (5 hierarchs as per 31 January 2026) is as follows: • Eparchial Bishops and Apostolic Exarch • Donato Oliverio, Bishop of Lungro (since 2012) • Raffaele De Angelis, Bishop of Piana (since 2025) • Manuel Nin, OSB, Titular Bishop of Carcabia, Apostolic Exarch of Saint Mary of Grottaferrata (since 2026) • Emeritus Hierarch • Giorgio Demetrio Gallaro, Titular Archbishop of Trecalae, Emeritus of Piana • Serving elsewhere • Ignazio Ceffalia, Titular Archbishop of Fiorentino, Apostolic Nuncio of Belarus == See also ==