11 Facts About Zef Pllumi

Zef Pllumi was an Albanian Franciscan priest and memoirist.

Zef Pllumi was born as Prenka Pllumi on 28 August 1924, in the Mali i Rencit, Shengjin, in a family of Shkreli origin.

Father Harapi gave him a medallion of Saint Francis that he was wearing around his neck and told Pllumi to conserve it with a lot of care and present it one day at the Franciscan College of Scutari, where he would later pursue his studies as a young friar.

In 1929, five-year-old Zef Pllumi became the pupil of Alfons Tracki, a German missionary in Velipoje.

At age 22, on 14 December 1946, Zef Pllumi was arrested by the communist regime and was condemned to three years of imprisonment, first at the Big Prison of Shkoder and then in the camps of Beden, located in the Myzeqe plain, and in Orman-Pojanit, located in Maliq.

Zef Pllumi was accused of being the personal secretary of Anton Harapi.

In 1967 Zef Pllumi was again arrested and had to serve jail for an additional 23 years in different prisons in Spac, Reps, Skrofotine of Vlore, Ballsh, Zejmen-Shenkoll and Tirana.

Zef Pllumi met with Mother Teresa when she went to Albania and, from 1993 until 1997, he started to republish the magazine Hylli i Drites, which after a six-year pause was republished in 2003.

Zef Pllumi found the relics of Father Gjergj Fishta and republished the works of the Franciscans of Albania.

Zef Pllumi died on 25 September 2007 in the Gemelli hospital in Rome, Italy, and was buried on 30 September 2007 in Shkoder.

Zef Pllumi received the literary prize The Golden Pen from the Ministry of Education of Albania for his trilogy.