Alojzije Palić

Alojzije Palić OFM (Latin: Aloysius Mathaeus Paliq, Albanian: Luigj Paliq;^[1][2] 1877 or 1878 – 7 March 1913) was a Kosovo Croat Franciscan and Catholic priest in Albania and martyr, murdered by Montenegrin soldiers in 1913.^[3] He was beatified in Shkodër on 16 November 2024, together with don Ivan Gazula (1893–1927).^[3]

Blessed Alojzije Palić Luigj Paliq OFM
Personal details
Born	Matej Palić 20 February 1877 or 14 April 1878 Janjevo
Died	7 March 1913 (aged 36) Janoshi
Sainthood
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Beatified	16 November 2024 Shkodër, Albania by Marcello Semeraro (on behalf of Pope Francis)

Biography

He was born as Matej Palić in Janjevo to Janjevci family of Toma and Paulina Palić (née Đurić).^[2][4] He enters Franciscan novitiate on 23 Septembre 1896, taking religious name Alojzije.^[4] He studied philosophy in Shkodër and theology in Bologne and Parma.^[4] Palić took his lifelong vows on 8 December 1901, and was ordained a priest on 20 April 1902, in Parma.^[4]

Upon completing his studies, he returned to his province, where he was a parish vicar in the Archdiocese of Skhoder from 1905 to 1907. He later served as a parish priest in Baz and Đakovica, where he was also rector of the hospice, and from 1911 to 1913 in Peć and Glođane.^[4]

As a parson in Glođane, he opposed the forced conversion of Muslims in the surrounding villages by the Orthodox. For this, he was arrested on March 4, 1913, and spent several days in prison in Peć, where he was beaten and tortured, and forced to renounce his priesthood and Catholic faith in order to convert to the Orthodoxy. On March 7, 1913, even before the trial, he was killed by Montenegrin soldiers near the village of Janoš. He was buried immediately, and only after four months was his body found and transferred to the church in Zjum, in southwestern Kosovo.^[4]

Beatification

The process for his beatification began in 2002 in the Diocese of Shkodër, within the cause of 40 martyrs killed out of hatred for the Catholic faith from 1913 to 1974 in Albania. A separate process for Fr. Alojzije continued on 9 March 2012 in Rome. Pope Francis authorized the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Marcel Semerar, to publish a decree on the martyrdom out of hatred for the faith of the Servant of God Fr. Alojzije Palić on 20 June 2024.^[4]