Medjana is a town and
commune (municipality) in
Bordj Bou Arréridj Province
Bordj Bou Arréridj ( ar, ولاية برج بوعريريج) is a province (''wilaya'') in northern Algeria around 200 km from the capital Algiers. It is considered as a crossroads between the east and west, the north and south.
It is nota ...
,
Algeria. It is the (approximative) location the Ancient city and bishopric Vardimissa, which remains a Latin Catholic
titular see.
According to the 1998 census it has a population of 16,112.
History
Vardimissa (also spelled B- as n Greek) was important enough in the
Roman province of
Mauretania Caesariensis
Mauretania Caesariensis (Latin for "Caesarean Mauretania") was a Roman province located in what is now Algeria in the Maghreb. The full name refers to its capital Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell).
The province had been part of the Kingd ...
to become one of its many
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 ...
s, but like most destined to fade completely, probably at the 7th century advent of Islam.
Two of its bishops are historically documented :
* Victor, participant at the
Council of Carthage in 411, among the Catholic bishops confronted with
Donatist heretical counterparts, without such for his see.
* Burcus, intervening Catholic participant at the
Council of Carthage in 484 called by king
Huneric of the
Vandal Kingdom hence presumably exiled or executed afterward.
[''Notitia provinciarum et civitatem Africae'', p. 45.]
Titular see
The diocese was nominally restored in 1933 as Latin
titular bishopric of Vardimissa (Latin = Curiate Italian) / Vardimissen(sis) (Latin adjective).
It is vacant, having had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank :
*
José Freire Falcão (1967.04.24 – 1967.08.19) 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
Limoeiro do Norte
Limoeiro do Norte is a municipality in the state of Ceará in the Northeast region of Brazil.
See also
*List of municipalities in Ceará
This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Ceará (CE), located in the Northeast Region of Bra ...
(
Brazil) (1967.04.24 – 1967.08.19); later Bishop of Limoeiro do Norte (1967.08.19 – 1971.11.25), Metropolitan Archbishop of
Teresina (Brazil) (1971.11.25 – 1984.02.15), Metropolitan Archbishop of
Brasília (Brazil) (1984.02.15 – retired 2004.01.28), Second Vice-President of Latin American Episcopal Council (1987 – 1991), created
Cardinal-Priest of
S. Luca a Via Prenestina
S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet.
S may also refer to:
History
* an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer (historian), Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics
* Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s ...
(1988.06.28 – ...)
* Bruno-Augustin Hippel,
Pallotines
The Pallottines officially named the Society of the Catholic Apostolate ( la, Societas Apostolatus Catholici), abbreviated SAC is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right for men in the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1835 by the Roman C ...
(S.A.C.) (1968.10.02 – death 1970.11.07) as emeritate; previously Titular Bishop of
Abora (1948.12.09 – 1951.01.11) as first and last
Apostolic Vicar of
Oudtshoorn (
South Africa) (1948.12.09 – 1951.01.11), (see) promoted first Bishop of Oudtshoorn (1951.01.11 – retired 1968.10.02)
* Alano Maria Pena,
Dominican Order (O.P.) (1975.04.07 – 1978.05.26) as
Auxiliary Bishop of Belém do Pará (Brazil) (1975.04.07 – 1976.07.14), Coadjutor Bishop-Prelate of
Territorial Prelature of Marabá
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...
(Brazil) (1976.07.14 – 1976.11.10) and succeeding as last
Bishop-Prelate of Marabá (1976.11.10 – 1979.10.16); later (see) promoted first Bishop of Marabá (Brazil) (1979.10.16 – 1985.07.11), Bishop of
Itapeva (Brazil) (1985.07.11 – 1993.11.24), Bishop of
Nova Friburgo (Brazil) (1993.11.24 – 2003.09.24), Metropolitan Archbishop of
Niterói
Niterói (, ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast Region, Brazil, southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay facing the city of Rio de Janeiro and forms ...
(Brazil) (2003.09.24 – retired 2011.11.30)
* Alfredo Ernest Novak,
Redemptorists (C.SS.R.) (born USA) (1979.04.19 – 1989.03.15) as
Auxiliary Bishop of
Archdiocese of São Paulo
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
(Brazil) (1979.04.19 – 1989.03.15); later Bishop of
Paranaguá (Brazil) (1989.03.15 – retired 2006.08.02), died 2014
* Jan Martyniak (1989.07.20 – 1991.01.16) as Auxiliary Bishop of
Przemyśl of the Ukrainians
Przemyśl (; yi, פשעמישל, Pshemishl; uk, Перемишль, Peremyshl; german: Premissel) is a city in southeastern Poland with 58,721 inhabitants, as of December 2021. In 1999, it became part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it was pr ...
(Poland) (1989.07.20 – 1991.01.16); next succeeded as last suffragan Eparch (Bishop) of Przemyśl of the Ukrainians (1991.01.16 – 1996.05.24), (see) promoted as first Metropolitan Archbishop of restyled
Przemyśl–Warszawa of the Ukrainians (1996.05.24 – retired 2015.11.07)
* Diómedes Espinal de León (2000.04.20 – 2006.05.24) as Auxiliary Bishop of
Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros (Dominican Republic) (2000.04.20 – 2006.05.24); next Bishop of
Mao–Monte Cristi (Dominican Republic) (2006.05.24 – ...)
* Mosè Marcia (2006.06.03 – 2011.04.21) as Auxiliary Bishop of
Archdiocese of Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy) (2006.06.03 – 2011.04.21); later Bishop of
Nuoro (Italy) (2011.04.21 – ...).
See also
*
List of Catholic dioceses in Algeria
References
Sources and external links
GCatholic; Bibliography - ecclesiastical history
* Pius Bonifacius Gams, ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', Leipzig 1931, p. 469
* Stefano Antonio Morcelli, ''Africa christiana'', Volume I, Brescia 1816, p. 347
* Auguste Audollent, lemma 'Bartimisiensis' in ''Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques'', vol. VI, 1932, coll. 1042-1043
{{Bordj Bou Arréridj Province
Communes of Bordj Bou Arréridj Province