Pal Engjëlli

Pal Engjelli (Italian Paolo Angeli, * 1416, † 1470 ) was Archbishop of Durres. About life Engjëllis there is little reliable data. The author of the first biography of the Albanian prince Scanderbeg, Marin Barleti (1450-1512), reported that the Archbishop came from a noble family which had been the Princely House Kastrioti closely linked. Engjelli should be for Skanderbeg been several times on diplomatic missions in Italy and Ragusa, where he campaigned for support against the Ottomans. 1467 he served as Ambassador Skanderbegs in Venice.

From him the first written in the Albanian language sentence is handed down. It is the baptismal formula ( Albanian: Formula e Pagëzimit ): Un'te paghesont ' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spirit Senit. ( = I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.) The baptismal formula was found in a Latin pastoral letter the archbishop had written after the visitation of a church in the countryside Mati. The letter dated November 8, 1462.

The document with the baptismal formula is preserved in the Laurentian Library in Florence. There, the Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga discovered in 1915.