Lazër Mjeda (1869–1935) was an ethnic Albanian priest and prelate of the Catholic Church in Albania, and a member of the Mjeda family.

Biography

Lazër (Llazar) Mjeda was born in Shkodër, Ottoman Empire — present-day Albania — on March 6, 1869. From 1900 to 1904 he was the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sapë, while from 1905 to 1909 he was the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shkodër. During this time, the Catholic Church also made him the Titular Archbishop for the Diocese of Areopolis. From mid 1909 till late 1921, Mjeda was the Archbishop of the Diocese of Skopje. During the 1912-1913 Balkan Wars, his detailed report of Serbian war crimes, widespread massacres, and ethnic cleansing against both Albanian Catholics and Muslims in his Diocese was carefully investigated by the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Office and ruled to be a credible source. From 1921 he was the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Shkodër-Pult. Mjeda was member of the literary society Society for the Unity of the Albanian Language (,Bashkimi i Shkodrës), creator of Bashkimi alphabet, one of the main Albanian alphabets discussed in the Congress of Monastir of 1908.

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