Lazër Shantoja

Lazër Shantoja (7 July 1891 – 5 March 1945) was an Albanian blessed, publicist, poet, satirist, and translator into Albanian from Goethe, Schiller and Leopardi, as well as his country's first Esperantist. He was one of the first Catholic priests, arrested by the communist government, and the first Albanian priest that was shot by a firing squad. He was accepted by the Catholic Church as a martyr in 2016, part of the Martyrs of Albania.