8th November 1462, the first document in Albanian language “The formula of Baptism”

Pal Ëngjëlli

In Trinity of Mat, near Macukëlli onNovember8th, 1462,was signed the first document in Albanian language “The formula of Baptism”. It is a short Albanian phrase, between a Latin writing in a circular letter of the the Archbishop of Durres, Pal Ëngjëllit, a close collaborator of Gjergj Kastrioti.”The formula” was used to baptize the newborn children, in conditions of constant wars against the Ottoman.The formula testified that the Albanian writing in Latin characters should be used before that date. “The baptismal formula”was discovered in Laurentiana Library in Milan by Romanian albanologist Nikolla Jorga and published by him in 1915.

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