habitants only 2,500 are still Byzantine. But they have five Byzantine churches, served by six priests.[1] Twenty-nine kilos. south-west is Contessa Entelina, where the Albanians came in 1450. All here speak Albanian. The population is about 3,000, of whom half are still Byzantine. Contessa has three Byzantine churches, and six priests of the rite.[2]
Lastly, 17 kilos. south-east, is Palazzo Adriano,[3] where the Albanians came in 1482. It was originally all Byzantine; the Byzantine parish church was the undisputed "Matrice" of the place. Then some of the inhabitants turned Latin; a church of the Roman rite was built, and there began one of those curious long and angry disputes as to which church was the "Matrice." It does not seem of much importance, since in every diocese the only head really is the Ordinary; but in these Albanian colonies there have been fierce disputes as to which church, Latin or Byzantine, should bear this rather senseless title. Now at Palazzo Adriano, as for the matter of that at Mezzoiuso, too, there are two "Matrici." Both churches claim the title, and they still quarrel over it. The Latin parish priest calls himself the "Arciprete," his Byzantine colleague is the "Protopapa"; and each loudly declares that he is the real archpriest of the place. The Bishop of Monreale might do worse than take away the title from both, and stop their quarrelling that way.
- ↑ Mezzoiuso used to pride itself on its pure Byzantine rite, as opposed to the "mixed" Italo-Greeks. I do not know how far this was justified. Andrew Reres founded a monastery here, and endowed it (1609) on condition that it remained always Byzantine. Then it came into the Basilian Congregation (p. 132); his heirs disputed its right to keep the property, on the plea that it had turned "Italo-Greek." There was a lawsuit which lasted four years, from 1694 to 1698. Finally the monks of Mezzoiuso were compelled to keep the strict rule, as in the East. The story is told at length by Rodotà, "del Rito greco," i, pp. 204-214. For Mezzoiuso see Rodotà, iii, 122-126; Vannutelli, op. cit., 56-71; Moroni, "Diz. di Erud.," xxxii, 152-153; "Roma e l'Oriente," iii, 267; especially Onofrio Buccola, "La Colonia greco-albanese di Mezzoiuso," Palermo, 1909, and "Nuove Ricerche sulla fondazione della Col. gr.-alb. di Mezzoiuso" (ibid., 1912). In the seventeenth century the monks of Mezzoiuso were zealous missionaries in Albania ("Roma e l'Or.," v, 97-112; 159-166; vi, 209-231).
- ↑ Spiridon lo Jacono, "Memoria sull' origine e fondazione della comune di Contessa," Palermo, 1851; Rodotà, op. cit., iii, 114-115; Vannutelli, pp. 83-91; "Roma e l'Oriente," ii, 269-270.
- ↑ This is not the site of a palace of the Emperor Adrian, but of a castle built by a rich Albanian who had the same euphonious and respectable name. Crispi, "Memoria sulla origine e fundazione di Palazzo Adriano," Palermo, 1827; Rodotà, iii, 106-114; Vannutelli, 71-83; "Roma e l'Or.," iii, 268-269.
