Aeliae
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Aeliae or Æliæ was a Roman-era city in the province of Byzacena.[1]
The town must have been of some importance as it was made a bishopric early after the Council of Nicaea and it was a Catholic diocese throughout antiquity, remaining a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church today.[2]
Its exact location is tentatively given as ruins near Henchir-Mraba[3][4] southeast of Ouled Chamekh, between lake Sebkhet Cherita and Sebkhet de Sidi El Hani in the central part of what is today Mahdia Governorate, Tunisia.[5]
Aeliae was also the seat of an ancient Christian bishopric. There are three bishops documented as residing in Aeliae during antiquity.[6][7]
- The Catholic Fascinullo intervened at the Conference of Carthage of 411, between Catholic and Donatist bishops of Roman North Africa
- The Bishop Donaziano participated in the synod assembled in Carthage in 484 by the arian King Huneric the Vandal, after which Donaziano was exiled.
- Bishop Constantine took part in the anti-monotheistic Council of Carthage (641).
Today Aeliae survives as a titular bishopric and the current bishop is Walter James Edyvean, former auxiliary bishop of Boston. It remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church.[8] The current bishop is Walter James Edyvean of Boston.
References
- ↑ Aeliae at www.gcatholic.org.
- ↑ Entry at www.catholic-hierarchy.org
- ↑ It Ant 55.4
- ↑ E. Babelon, R. Cagnat and S. Reinach, Atlas archéologique de la Tunisie (1:50,000), Paris, 1892–1913 73.19-20.
- ↑ Auguste Audollent, v. Abaradirensis, in Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques, vol. I, (Paris, 1909), col. 13
- ↑ Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, (Leipzig, 1931), p. 465.
- ↑ Stefano Antonio Morcelli, Africa christiana, Volume I, (Brescia, 1816), pp. 154–155.
- ↑ David M. Cheney. "Aeliae (Titular See) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2016-12-16.