In the entrance foyer of the Albanian Orthodox Cathedral on E. Broadway in South Boston there is a bust of Bishop Fan S. Noli the founder of our church. The Bishop was our spiritual leader until his death in 1965. Most of the congregants know him as a clergyman but he was much more than that. He was a writer, scholar, diplomat, politician, historian, and orator and also served for a time as Prime Minister of Albania. He graduated from Harvard and later earned his doctorate from Boston University.
In the 1950’s our Parish priest, Father Ellis lived next door to us in the City Point section of Southie. We became close so it wasn’t unusual that he called and asked if I would pick up Bishop Noli and chauffeur him to the Cathedral. I said I would consider it an honor. This would be my opportunity to question the Bishop about his amazing life --a one on one interview with a true genius.
But this is what happened. As we rode away I became tongue tied-a complete brain freeze. The conversation was one sided with occasional grunts and monosyllable responses on my part. The Bishop must have thought that Father Ellis had sent him a complete babbling idiot as a joke.
I dropped him off and he thanked me. As I rode away I began to think how I had missed such a golden opportunity. These many years later I still regret it.
No comments:
Post a Comment