www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News New Italo-Albanian Bishop

The appointment was announced [press.catholica.va] yesterday of Archimandrite Donato Oliverio (56) as the new Eparchial Bishop of Lungro [webdiocesi.chiesacattolica.it] for Italo-Albanians in Continental Italy.

Bishop-elect Donato was educated at Cosenza, Grottaferrata, and Rome. He is an alumnus of the Pontifical Greek College, the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) and the Pontifical Oriental Institute. He has published articles on catechesis and iconology, and has edited the Italian edition of the Apostolos (lectionary).

The Bishop-elect was ordained priest in 1982. He has served as parish priest, eparchial director of catechetics, moderator of the curia, and protosyncellus (vicar general). Since 2010 he has been the Delegate of the Apostolic Administrator.

Bishop-elect Donato speaks Albanian and Italian and has a knowledge of French and Greek.

But is his ethnicity Greek? Definitely not Albanian. Are there any real Greeks left in Italy?

Yes, but most had been Latinized.

Nearly all, if not all, the Italo-Greeks are actually Albanians: the Albanians arrived just as the Greek rite went extinct, and the Albanians slipped in.

One thing I wonder, and I haven't gotten confirmation, but did the DL ever switch to Albanian before Vatican II?

Axios! Axios!

Not all. Ask Archimandrite Francis Vivona.

Is the Archimandrite from Italy?

New York, but he still has family there I believe.

Luke, my brother,

Since he was born in Cosenza, which has an Arberesh community, and he speaks Albanian, I'd say that there is at least a strong likelihood that he is an Italo-Albanian.

And, frankly, were his ancestry purely Italian (perhaps Italo-Byzantine), I doubt that anyone would be disappointed. It's clear from his education at Grottaferrato and his subsequent history that he is Byzantine - which is what is most important - that Lungro will no longer be under a Latin hierarch.

As to whether there remain any Italo-Greeks in Italy? I'm certain there are. It would be difficult to imagine that the faithful of Our Lady of Wisdom in Las Vegas are the last remnants of the Byzantine Italo-Greeks. (To clarify, it is my understanding that the ethnic faithful of that parish are principally Italo-Greek vs those of Our Lady of Grace in NYC, who are principally Italo-Albanian.)

May the Lord grant many years to His servant, the Eparch-elect Donato.

Eis polla aeti, Despota!

Many years,

Neil

http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bolivdo.html

This site has the Archimandrite as being born in Cosenza in 1956.

Shlomo Lkhoolkhoon,
Maybe Archimandrite Francis will let me pray in his Church before kicking me out for being a Maronite, as he did last time.

Also, there is now a second Italo-Greek Church here in Vegas so that that Church is upto 3 parishes.

Fush BaShlomo Lkhoolkhoon,
Yuhannon

Shawn, my brother,

What/where is the second Italo-Greek church in LV?

Many years,

Neil

Shlomo Aho Neil,

Here is the listing for the second Italo-Greek Church here in Vegas:

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Outreach
8530 Robertson Rd., Las Vegas
Rt. Rev. Francis Vivona, JCL
(702) 873-5101
Liturgical Services are offered every Sunday at 5:00pm.

Directions:
Take Route US-95 North, out of Northwest Las Vegas.
Take a left on Kyle Canyon Road (Route NV-157)---the southern road to Mount Charleston.
Travel 3.7 miles and take a right onto Robertson Road.

Fush BaShlomo,
Yuhannon (Shawn)

Thank you, my friend.

Many years,

Neil

This mission is, I understand, the only joint eastern-western Catholic mission in the UAS--but it is a mission, not a parish.

It was planned and opened when there was an"extra" eparchies priest in town, but Fr. Nils health meant that Fr. Marcus took o Eric our parish far sooner thank planned..

hawk

Some clarification from Italy:

The only historical minority in Italy which is of Byzantin Albania in the 16-17th century when it was occupied by the Turkish. Now they live in the mountains of Lungro (in Calabry) and Piana (in Sicily).
Before to escape in South Italy they spoke Albanian and used Byzantine Rite with liturgies conducted in Greek.
Now they still speak Albanian (as own dialect, the main language is Italian) and use Byzantine Rite with liturgies conducted in Middle-Age Greek (well, sometimes sermon, readings and some litanies in Italian).

Up to the High Middle Ages large territories in South Italy were subject to the Byzantine Empire (Language: Greek - Rite: Byzantine - Liturgical language: Greek). Now still exist some little communitis in Calabria (not near Lungro) who speak Greek (as own dialect, the main language is Italian), a Greek which is actually a middle-age Greek, quite obsolete for the present Greeks.
Since the 17-18th century all of them passed to the Roman Rite.

The only present ecclesiastical trace of the Middle Ages Greek South Italy is the Monastery of Grottaferrata, that however in the last centuries was kept alive with Arberesh vocations.

In the past centuries the other traces of Byzantine rite in Italy were some sporadic emigrants from Greek under the EP (particularly in Venice), some Slavic minorities in Friuli, and some occasional Catholic Byzantine Rite who took refuge in Rome (particularlyat St Athanasius) after that in the 16-17 century Istanbul took again the full control of all territories/islands of Greece forcing all Catholic Byzantine Rite to abide by E.P.'s authority.

In the last 15 years Italy have seen a large immigration from Eastern Europe, so now we have consistent Byzantine-Rite communities (Romenians, Ukrainans ect), both Orthodox and Catholic.

PS: when it is used the adjective "Greek" in "Italo-Greek Church", this does not refer to the ethnicity nor to the liturgical language. It come from the 15-16-17 century, when the term "Byzantine Rite" simply did not exist and the Byzantine Rite was known as "Greek Rite", that independently on which liturgical language was used.