Ryahovo

Ryahovo (Bulgarian: Ряхово) is a village in north(east)ern Bulgaria, and as Ancient Ap(p)iaria a former bishopric, remaining a Latin Catholic titular see.

Ryahovo

Ряхово
Village
Ryahovo
Location in Bulgaria
Coordinates: 43.989°N 26.244°E / 43.989; 26.244
CountryBulgaria
ProvinceRousse
MunicipalitySlivo Pole

It is located in the municipality of Slivo Pole in Rousse Province.

As of February 2011, it had a population of 1,637 inhabitants.

History
  • The village was created as Appiaria (Greek: Ἀππιάρια) under Roman Emperor Vespasian as a fortress-castle on the banks of the Danube, which was probably destroyed by seventh century Bulgarian invaders.
  • Under Romanian occupation in late 1916, from the early morning of 1 October to the late night of 3 October, during the Flămânda Offensive.[1]
  • Apiaria Bight on Brabant Island in the Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica was named after it.

Ecclesiastical History

Appiaria was important enough in the Roman province of Moesia Inferior (=Secunda) to become a suffragan diocese of the capital's Metropolitan Archdiocese of Marcianopolis, in the sway of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

It has two documented incumbents :

The see isn't mentioned in the Notitia Episcopatuum by pseudo-Epifanius, edited under Emperor Heraclius I (circa 640), probably having ceased after the ruinous Bulgarian invasion.[2]

Titular see

The diocese was nominally restored (in 1920?) as Titular bishopric of Apiaria (Latin until 1925)) / Appiaria (Italian from the start, Latin since 1925) / Appiaren(sis) (Latin adjective).

It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank, including an Eastern Catholic :

  • Bonifatius Sauer (신상원 보니파시오), Missionary Benedictine Congregation of Saint Ottilien (O.S.B.) (1920.08.25 – death 1950.02.07), first as Apostolic Vicar of Wonsan (North Korea) (1920.08.25 – 1940.01.12), later as Abbot Ordinary of Territorial Abbacy of Tŏkugen (North Korea) (1940.01.12 – 1950.02.07), also Apostolic Administrator of the renamed (above) Apostolic Vicariate of Kanko (Hamheung, North Korea) (1940.01.12 – 1950.02.07)
  • Joseph Lennox Federal (1951.02.05 – 1960.03.31) as Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Salt Lake City (Utah, USA) (1951.02.05 – 1958.05.01); next promoted Coadjutor Bishop of Salt Lake City (1958.05.01 – 1960.03.31), succeeding as Bishop of Salt Lake City (1960.03.31 – retired 1980.04.22), died 2000
  • Thomas Austin Murphy (1962.05.23 – death 1991.11.17) as Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore (Maryland, USA) (1962.05.23 – retired 1984.05.29) and as emeritate
  • Vasile Bizău (2007.10.27 – 2011.06.11) as Bishop of Curia of the Romanian Catholic Church (Byzantine Rite (2007.10.27 – 2011.06.11); later Eparch (Bishop) of Maramureş of the Romanians (Romania) (2011.06.11 – ...)
  • Ernesto Giobando, Jesuit Order (S.J.) (2014.03.05 – ...), Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Buenos Aires (Argentina).

See also

References
  1. Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, 23 oct. 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, pp. 136-137 and 142-143
  2. Raymond Janin, La hiérarchie ecclésiastique dans le diocèse de Thrace, in Revue des études byzantines, Vol. 17, 1959, p. 140-141
Bibliography
  • Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 428
  • Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. I, coll. 1225-1226
  • Daniele Farlati e Jacopo Coleti, Illyricum Sacrum, vol. VIII, Venice 1819, pp. 110–111
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