did so much for the Sicilian Albanians (p. 124). It was opened in 1715. Since 1784 the rector is the ordaining bishop. The college not only supplies the clergy for its rite in Sicily, it is also a centre from which Catholic missionaries set out for Albania. It publishes a little periodical in Albanian Fiála e t'in' Zoti, which appears to mean "The Word of the Lord."[1] The students come from the Albanian villages, Piana, Mezzoiuso, and the others. They wear what was the old dress of the Greek College at Rome, a purple cassock with red belt and trimmings and a purple soprana. They seem well-kept, intelligent, hard-working and happy. To the stranger they talk quite nice Italian; but they are careful to explain that this is not their own language.
Next to the college is the parish church for all Byzantine Panormitans, dedicated to St Nicholas. It is a little difficult to find the church and college. You must go into the back streets, behind the great Dominican church, till at last you find the tiny "Via dei Greci." The church is not strikingly small or mean; it would make a fair average village church. It is clean and well kept. All the same, when one sees the great number of enormous Latin churches in every street of Palermo, it seems a pity that one of them could not be set aside for a rite that has so many historical associations with Sicily. The church of St Nicholas is served by a parish priest, a curate, and two "coadjutors"; the students of the college attend its services and sing on Sundays. There is a colony of about 2,000 Albanians at Palermo, who frequent this church. The bishops of Palermo and Monreale share the administration of the college; each has burses in it for Albanian students of his diocese.[2]
Fifteen kilos. almost due south of Palermo is Piana dei Greci,[3] the chief colony of Sicily. The Albanians came here first in 1488. It has always been one of the most important Albanian settlements in the West, and is still the largest. For a long time the Byzantine ordaining bishop for Sicily resided here. It was at Piana that George Guzzetta founded his Congregation of the Oratory for the Byzantine rite. Here also he founded a Congregation of religious women, the "Sisters
- ↑ Weekly; in Italy fr. 2.50, abroad fr. 3.00. See "Roma e l'Oriente," iv (1912), pp. 249-255.
- ↑ For Palermo and the college see Rodotà, op. cit., iii, 120-122; Moroni, "Diz. di Erud.," xxxii, 153; I. de Iohanne, "de diu. Sicul. officiis," p. 83; Vannutelli, op. cit., 43-48; "Roma e l'Oriente," iii, 270.
- ↑ It was formerly called Piana degli Albanesi.
