Native name Pal Engjelli In office ? Church Roman Catholic Rank Cardinal-Deacon | Archdiocese Durres Name Pal Engjelli Appointed ? | |
Pal Engjëlli (Latin: Paulus Angelus; 1416 – 1470) was an Albanian Roman Catholic clergyman, scholar, and Archbishop of Durrës who in 1462 wrote the first known sentence retrieved so far in Albanian. Pal Engjëlli is reported to have been a friend, co-worker and close counselor of Skanderbeg. As his envoy, he frequently traveled abroad, seeking for aid in the war against the Ottoman Empire. Pal is the Northern Albanian version of Paul, and Engjëlli is the Albanian form of angel.
Engjëlli managed to convince Lekë Dukagjini to leave Ottomans and later reconcile with Skanderbeg, and also to convince Skanderbeg to violate an armistice signed with the Ottomans.
The baptism formula document
The sentence was the baptismal formula (Albanian: Formula e pagëzimit): Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spirit Senit. (English: "I baptize thee in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" and modern Albanian: "'Unë të pagëzoj në emër të Atit, të Birit, e të Shpirtit të Shenjtë").
The formula was found in a pastoral letter written in Latin by Engjëlli after his visit to the Church of Holy Trinity in Mat. The letter is dated 8 November 1462. The formula was meant to be used by Albanian priests to render the ritual understandable for people ignorant of Latin. Probably it was meant also to be used by Albanian people in the countryside, unable to take their children to be baptized to a church. The formula was approved by a synod in Mat, Albania, in 1462.
The document containing the baptismal formula is held in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence, Italy. It was discovered in 1915 by the Romanian scholar Nicolae Iorga.