Albanian seminary in 1732. It was to be called the "Collegio Corsini."[1] It was also to be the residence of the ordaining Byzantine bishop for Calabria. Samuel Rodotà himself was the first bishop of this line (p. 123) and the first rector of the seminary. In 1791 the college and bishop's residence were transferred to the monastery of St Adrian at San Demetrio Corone. Now there are 2,100 Albanians at San Benedetto Ullano, who use the old church.[2] Five kilos. north-east of Bisignano we come the village Santa Sofia d'Epiro.[3] The principal church of this place, built by the Albanians in the sixteenth century, had the title "Hagia Sophia," and the Albanians themselves are constantly called "Epirọti." Hence the name. It has about 1,800 Albanians.
Four kilos. again to the north-east is San Demetrio Corone, the chief Albanian colony of this group. Just outside the town is the college of St Adrian. It was once a Basilian monastery. In 1791 the Italo-Albanian seminary for Calabria was moved here from San Benedetto Ullano. At that time the monastic community was almost extinct. So the Pope, Pius VI (1775-1799), thought the buildings would be more useful in this way. Then for about a century the seminary at Sant' Adriano did useful work in educating Calabrian Albanian boys for the priesthood. The Byzantine ordaining bishop, who was also rector of the college, lived here. But gradually the prosperity of the institution dwindled. The Albanians were turning Latin or emigrating. There were fewer students, the revenue of the college diminished. After the revolution in Naples (1860) the Italian Government appointed a commissioner to look after the affairs of the college. He seems to have been an anti-clerical person, so he confiscated most of what was left of the property. A series of lawsuits and quarrels followed. At last, in 1900, the seminary was closed. Then the Government confiscated the whole place, repaired the buildings, and in 1903 reopened it as a college for the Albanians, but a purely lay one. There are now no clerical students. It contains about 150 boys, all laymen destined for lay professions. Through this college the Italian Government does much work to italianize the Albanians.[4] The boys go now and then to assist
- ↑ Clement XII was Lawrence Corsini.
- ↑ Rodotà, iii, 68-78; Moroni, "Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica," vol. xxxii (Venice, 1845), 152-153; Vannutelli, op. cit., 153-154.
- ↑ Rodotà, iii, 68; Vannutelli, 145.
- ↑ On the whole the Italian Government is very kind to its Albanians. It has great hopes of getting Dalmatia and Epirus as an Italian colony, and it looks to the Albanians of Italy to influence their
