Gaspër Jakova Mërturi (1870–1941) was a figure involved in the

Albanian National Awakening The Albanian National Awakening ( or ), commonly known as the Albanian Renaissance or Albanian Revival, is a period throughout the 19th and 20th century of a cultural, political, and social movement in the Albanian history where the Albanian ...

and a talented writer. Mërturi was from northern

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

who had been defrocked as Catholic priest and was an ex-

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

recruited individuals from the Albanian Catholic clergy to work for them and he became employed as an instructor at the Collegio of Sant'Adriano and later as a publicist editing works such as newspapers in

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

. Mërturi along with Italo-Albanian Anselmo Lorecchio during June 1904 published an

Italian language Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...

daily newspaper ''Agenzia Balcanica ed Italiana'' that focused on politics, finance and commercial information. Its aims were "to enlighten the European public opinion" about the rights and necessary reforms for the vilayets of

Üsküb Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultural center of ...

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra; historically known as Scodra or Scutari) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, fifth-most-populous city of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. Shkodër has been List of o ...

, Monastir, Yanina, and

Salonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

. In

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Mërturi began publication of a fortnightly newspaper ''The Herald of Albania'' written mainly in Italian on September 15, 1904, that focused on Albanian independence and unity, without going into details about how they would be achieved. Mërturi encouraged the writing talents of his students like

Luigj Gurakuqi Luigj Gurakuqi (19 February 1879 – 2 March 1925), also called Louis Gurakuchi, was an Albanians, Albanian writer and politician. He was an important figure of the Albanian National Awakening and was honored with the People's Hero of Albania ...

, who also became contributors to the Albanian national awakening.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mërturi, Gaspër Jakova Activists of the Albanian National Awakening Laicized Roman Catholic priests 1870 births 1941 deaths Writers from Shkodër People from Scutari vilayet Albanian Jesuits Catholics from the Ottoman Empire