Pjetër Budi

Who was Pjetër Budi?

Pjetër Budi, known in Italian as Pietro Budi, was a bishop of Sapë and the author of four religious works in Albanian.

Budi was born in Gur i Bardhë and is a noted and respected figure in Albanian cultural history. In addition to his political and religious activities, he published four books in Albanian, a rarity at the time, and was the first Albanian writer to publish a substantial amount of poetry in Albanian, some 3,300 lines of it.

Among Budi's other publications are:

⁕the Rituale Romanum or Rituali Roman, a 319-page collection of Latin prayers and sacraments with comments in Albanian

⁕a short work entitled Cusc zzote mesce keto cafsce i duhete me scerbyem, a 16-page explanation of mass, and

⁕the Speculum Confessionis or Pasëqyra e t'rrëfyemit, a 401-page translation or, better, adaptation of the Specchio di Confessione of Emerio de Bonis, described by Budi as "some spiritual discourse most useful for those who understand no other language than their Albanian mother tongue."

Pjeter Budi Street in Tirana has been named in his honour.