Belesasa was an ancient city and former bishopric in
Roman North Africa
Africa Proconsularis was a Roman province on the northern African coast that was established in 146 BC following the defeat of Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisia, the northeast of Algeria, ...
, which only remains a Latin Catholic
titular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...
.
History
Belesasa, was among the cities of sufficient importance in the
Roman province
The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...
of
Numidia
Numidia ( Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunis ...
to become a
suffragan diocese
A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria ...
of the
Metropolitan
Metropolitan may refer to:
* Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories
* Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England
* Metropolitan county, a typ ...
of
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...
, in the papal sway, but faded so completely, plausibly at the
seventh century advent of Islam, that its exact location, now in Algeria wasn't even found.
Its only historically documented incumbent, Servus, was among the Catholic bishops convoked to a
Council of Carthage in 484 by king
Huneric of the
Vandal Kingdom, and probably exiled likes his colleagues, unlike their schismatic
Donatist counterparts (none reported for Belesasa)
['']Patrologia Latina
The ''Patrologia Latina'' (Latin for ''The Latin Patrology'') is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1841 and 1855, with indices published between ...
'', vol. LVIII, coll. 271 e 312
Titular see
The diocese was nominally restored in 1933 as Latin
titular bishopric of Belesasa (Latin = Curiate Italian) / Belesasen(sis) (Latin adjective).
It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank :
* Gaston Hains (1964.08.28 – 1968.10.31), first as
Auxiliary Bishop of
Diocese of Saint-Hyacinthe
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint-Hyacinthe ( la, Dioecesis Sancti Hyacinthi) (erected 8 June 1852) is a Latin rite suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Sherbrooke in Quebec, (predominantly francophone) Canada.
Its cathedral episcopal ...
(Canada) (1964.08.28 – 1967.06.13), then as
Coadjutor Bishop
A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...
of
Amos (Canada) (1967.06.13 – succession 1968.10.31); next Bishop of Amos (1968.10.31 – retired 1978.04.19), died 1986
* Jesús Humberto Velázquez Garay (1983.02.10 – 1988.04.28) as Auxiliary Bishop of
Diocese of Culiacán (Mexico) (1983.02.10 – 1988.04.28); later Bishop of
Celaya
Celaya (; ) is a city and its surrounding municipalities of Mexico, municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 3 ...
(Mexico) (1988.04.28 – retired 2003.07.26), died 2003
:BIOS TO ELABORATE
* Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte,
Friars Minor
The Order of Friars Minor (also called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the teachin ...
(O.F.M.) (1988.06.20 – 1998.03.07)
* Joseph Angelo Grech (1998.11.27 – 2001.03.08)
* Joachim Mbadu Kikhela Kupika (2001.05.21 – 2019.03.12), Bishop emeritus of Boma (Congo-Kinshasa)
* Pascual Limachi Ortiz (2019.04.16 – 2021.02.10), Appointed Prelate of Corocoro
* Pius Sin Hozel (2021.05.22 – ...)
See also
*
List of Catholic dioceses in Algeria
References
{{Reflist
Sources and external links
GCatholic ; Bibliography
* Pius Bonifacius Gams, ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', Leipzig 1931, p. 464
* Stefano Antonio Morcelli, ''Africa christiana'', Volume I, Brescia 1816, p. 99
* Auguste Audollent, lemma 'Belesasensis' in ''Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques'', vol. VII, 1934, col. 516
Catholic titular sees in Africa
Suppressed Roman Catholic dioceses