On the 20th June, 2024, the Holy Father Francis received in audience Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and authorized the promulgation of the following decree concerning the General Postulation of the Friars Minor, concerning two martyrs, a friar minor, and a contemplative religious.
The Decree contains, amongst others, the approval of the martyrdom of the Servant of God Luigi (alias Matteo) Palić, in Albanian Paliq, professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, born in Janievo, Archdiocese of Skopje, Kosovo, on the 20th February 1877 and killed in hatred of the faith in Janosh, Archdiocese of Skopje, on the 7th March 1913.
The martyrdom of Venerable Luigi Palić or Paliq, professed priest of the Province of the Friars Minor of the Annunciation in Albania, took place during the First Balkan War 1912-1913 when the territory of the Parish of Pejë, Archdiocese of Skopje, where he worked, was occupied by Montenegro, an ally of Serbia. In this context, there was pressure on the Muslim and Catholic population to convert to Orthodoxy.
The Servant of God urged both Catholics and Muslims to remain faithful to their beliefs. The protests of Fr. Palić's ill-treatment and violence inflicted by soldiers on the population led the persecutors to arrest him on the false charge of instigating the population not to surrender their weapons.
The Servant of God was a virtuous priest, esteemed by the people. Several times he had been urged to flee because he was wanted, but he had always refused in order to continue to carry out his mission in fidelity and out of love for the persecuted people.
On the 4th March, 1913, he was arrested. He was asked to renounce his Catholic faith and convert to Orthodoxy, but he steadfastly refused. On the 7th March, 1913, on the way to Pejë along with other prisoners to stand trial, he was separated from the other prisoners and stripped of his religious habit. As he was about to be shot, he confirmed his full readiness to die for Christ and for the Church, crying: "O Jesus, let it be for Thy love!"
The Cause of Recognition of Martyrdom began in the Diocese of Shkodra in 2002.
