Mila ( ar, ميلة, link=no, , ) is a city in the northeast of

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

and the capital of

Mila Province Mila ( ar, ولاية ميلة, link=no, ) is a province (''wilayah'') of Algeria, whose capital is Mila. Other localities include Teleghma, Grarem Gouga, Hamala and Rouached. History The province was created from parts of Constantine Provin ...

. In antiquity, it was known as Milevum (in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

; as such still 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 ...

) or Miraeon, ''Μιραίον'' (in

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

) and was situated 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 ...

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 ...

History

Ancient history

In Ptolemy's ''Geography'', IV, iii, 7, the city is mentioned under the name of Mileum or Mireon. During the Roman era it was called Colonia Sarnensis Milevitana, after the River Sarnus in

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

, whence the colonists had emigrated. This name is often found in the inscriptions of the city. Together with

Cirta Cirta, also known by various other names in antiquity, was the ancient Berber and Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria. Cirta was the capital city of the Berber kingdom of Numidia; its strategically important port city w ...

Collo Collo ( ar, القل, links=, lit=, translit=al-Qull) was an ancient Roman– a city of the Ottoman empire and Berber. Located in the northern Skikda Province, Algeria. It was the capital and one of three municipalities of Collo District, and ...

and Rusicade, Milevum formed the confederation known as the Four Colonies, the territory of which was very extensive. In the 6th century the Byzantine

Emperor Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renova ...

had Milevum enclosed by a fortified wall, which still stands and forms a rampart for the Muslim city of Mila. It has yielded quite a number of Latin inscriptions from this city and a colossal statue of Saturn.

Under Arab Islamic rule

Between 665 and 682 the city was conquered by the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...

commanded by

Abu al-Muhajir Dinar Abu al-Muhajir Dinar ( ar, أبو المهاجر دينار) was a governor of Ifriqiya under the Umayyad Caliphate and lead the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb. He died in Tabuda after the Battle of Vescera in 683. Biography His biography is c ...

. In multiple book mentioned precisely City Mila conquered by Abu Muhajer General Umayyad Dinar in 675 AD in it, says in "The Berbers: study on the conquest of Africa by the Arabs, according to the printed Arabic texts. "Volume 1 by Henri Fournel on page The Mosque Sidi Ghanem of Mila was built around 675 by Abu Muhajer Dnar Dinar In the tenth century AH, historian and geographer Abu Ubayd-Allah Abd Al-Bakri quoted the mosque of Sidi Ghanem as "the first Mila mosque adjoining Dar El Imara" (House of Command) As multiple significant evidence was found of Mila in the Arab period, as standard weight of 745 Umayyad registered with: "'Translation: "In the name of Allah. Among the steps ordered / Emir Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib / Masal ibn Hammad, Wali Mila / twenty ûkîya (once) in the year 127-745)/" The name of the governor mentioned on the standard is well known: ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Habīb, the grandson of ‘Uqba ibn al-Nāfī’, who governed the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

between 744 and 754 after returning from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, where he had taken refuge following the disastrous battle of

Tangiers Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capit ...

. In the 11th-century al-Bakri describes the Mila population as consisting of Arabs, people from the militia, and people of mixed race (Arabic, Roman and Berber). But according to al-Idrissi it remained in the 11th century that there were 4000 Kutama Berbers throughout Ifriqiya

Ottoman rule

Finally in the 19th century it was the largest colony Koulouglis of the East-Algeria (Constatinnois) (mix of Turk with Arab or Berber)

French colonial era

According to the scientist and military E.Carette (1808–1890), author of the tribal map of Algeria, and studies "inquiry into the origin and migration of the main tribes of North Africa, particularly of Algeria '"on pag
453
there was a Mila 19th century about 800 ethnic

and 800 ethnic

Berbers , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...

in the cityExploration scientifique de l'Algérie
3, Recherches sur l'origine et les migrations des principales tribus de l'Afrique septentrionale et particulièrement de l'Algérie
/ par E. Carette Milevum, modern Arabic name Mila, was under French colonial rule a city in the department of Constantine in

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, with in the early 20th century 8000 inhabitants, 400 of whom are Europeans.

Modern history

Constantine department later became

Constantine Province Constantine ( ar, ولاية قسنطينة) is one of the 58 provinces (''wilayas'') of Algeria, whose capital is the city of the same name. History In 1984 Mila Province Mila ( ar, ولاية ميلة, link=no, ) is a province (''wilayah' ...

after the independence of Algeria, of which Mila was dependent till the creation of

in 1984. At the 1998 census the city had a population of 59,959.

Ecclesiastical history

Milevum was among the many towns of sufficient importance in the

, in the papal sway, 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 ...

. The historically recorded bishops of this

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

were * Pollianus, present at the

Council of Carthage (255) A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

called by saint

Cyprian Cyprian (; la, Thaschus Caecilius Cyprianus; 210 – 14 September 258 AD''The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite: Vol. IV.'' New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1975. p. 1406.) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Chri ...

us of carthage on the '' lapsi'', Christians who accepted forced pagan sacrificing to avoid martyrdom, himself martyred two years later *

St. Optatus Saint Optatus, sometimes anglicized as St. Optate, was Bishop of Mila, Algeria, Milevis, in Numidia, in the fourth century, remembered for his writings against Donatism. Biography and context Optatus was a convert, as we gather from Augustine of ...

, noted for his work ''De schismate Donatistarum'' (circa 375) against the

Donatist Donatism was a Christian sect leading to a schism in the Church, in the region of the Church of Carthage, from the fourth to the sixth centuries. Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and t ...

heresy; he died in about 385 and is commemorated on 4 June * Honorius, deposed for incompetence according to

Church Father The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

* Severus, fellow-countryman and correspondent of the above St. Augustine; attended, with his schismatical

counterpart Adeodato, the Council of Carthage of 411, with other African bishops of both sides *'' Morcelli next list Optatus II, who was probably in fact bishop of Vescera'' * Bennatus participated in the Council of Carthage of 484, called by king

Huneric Huneric, Hunneric or Honeric (died December 23, 484) was King of the (North African) Vandal Kingdom (477–484) and the oldest son of Gaiseric. He abandoned the imperial politics of his father and concentrated mainly on internal affairs. He was m ...

of the Vandal Kingdom, after which he was exiled, like most Catholic bishops * Restitutus, who attended the Fifth Œcumenical Council in Constantinople in 553. Two church councils were held at Milevum, one in 402 and the other in 416. The second appealed to

Pope Innocent I Pope Innocent I ( la, Innocentius I) was the bishop of Rome from 401 to his death on 12 March 417. From the beginning of his papacy, he was seen as the general arbitrator of ecclesiastical disputes in both the East and the West. He confirmed the ...

for repression of the

Pelagian Pelagianism is a Christian theological position that holds that the original sin did not taint human nature and that humans by divine grace have free will to achieve human perfection. Pelagius ( – AD), an ascetic and philosopher from t ...

heresy. The bishopric is last mentioned, as one of the thirteen subsisting suffragan sees in Numidia, in the ''

Notitiae Episcopatuum The ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' (singular: ''Notitia Episcopatuum'') are official documents that furnish Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church. In the Roman Church (the -mostly Lati ...

'' in the reign of

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

Leo VI Leo VI (or Leon VI, notably in Greek) may refer to : * Leo VI the Wise, Byzantine emperor 886 to 912 * Pope Leo VI, 928 to 929 * King Leo VI of Armenia (1342 – 1393), of the House of Lusignan, last Latin king of the Armenian crusader Kingdom of C ...

(886-912).

Titular see

The diocese was nominally restored, no later than the 17th century, as Latin

titular bishopric 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 ...

of Milevum (Latin) / Milevi (Curiate Italian) / Milevitan(us) (Latin adjective). It has had the following incumbents, mostly of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank, ''with two archiepiscopal exceptions'': :BIOS TO ELABORATE * Joseph Ignace Randrianasolo (1997.10.24 – 1999.06.03) * José Manuel Piña Torres (1958.05.12 – 1997.07.07) * Jean-Félix de Hemptinne, O.S.B. (1932.03.22 – 1958.02.06) * Anton Gisler (1928.04.20 – 1932.01.04) *''Titular Archbishop: Acacio Chacón Guerra'' (1926.05.10 – 1927.08.01) * Giovanni Borzatti de Löwenstern (1907.03.11 – 1926.02.17) * James Bellord (1899.02.05 – 1905.06.11) * Charles Lavigne,

Jesuit Order , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

( S.J.) (1887.09.13 – 1898.08.27) * Jean-Marie Tissot,

Fransalians The Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales (MSFS), also known as the Fransalians, was founded in Annecy, France on 24 October 1838 by Fr. Peter Mermier under the patronage of St. Francis de Sales. The political disturbances in the country, especial ...

(M.S.F.S.) (1863.08.11 – 1886.09.01) * William Bernard Allen Collier,

Benedictine Confederation The Benedictine Confederation of the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Confœderatio Benedictina Ordinis Sancti Benedicti) is the international governing body of the Order of Saint Benedict. Origin The Benedictine Confederation is a union of monasti ...

(O.S.B.) (1840.02.14 – 1847.12.07) * Thomas Coen (1816.01.26 – 1831.10.09) * Wilhelm Joseph Leopold Willibald von Baden (1779.07.12 – 1798.07.09) * Anton Révay (1754.05.20 – 1776.09.16) * Caius Asterius Toppi (1728.11.15 – 1754) * Johann Ignaz Dlouhovesky (1679.04.10 – 1701.01.10) * Hyacinthus de Saldanha,

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

(O.P.) (1675.01.28 – ?) * Emmanuel a S. Ludovico,

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.) (1672.02.08 – ?) *''Titular Archbishop Joseph Chennoth'' (車納德) (born India) (1999.08.24 – ...) as papal diplomat :

Chargé d’affaires Chargé () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. Chargé is a small town near Amboise. The Rock 'in Chargé festival has revitalized the village sinc2006 Population The inhabitants are called ''Chargéens''. See a ...

in PR China (1995.04.26 – 1999.08.24),

Apostolic Nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international org ...

(ambassador) to Chad (1999.08.24 – 2005.06.15), Apostolic Nuncio to Central African Republic (1999.08.24 – 2005.06.15), Apostolic Nuncio to Tanzania (2005.06.15 – 2011.08.15), Apostolic Nuncio to Japan (2011.08.15 – ...)

Notes

Sources and external links

* GCatholic - (former and) titular bishopric* ; Bibliography * A. Benabbès: "Les premiers raids arabes en Numidie Byzantine: questions toponymiques." In ''Identités et Cultures dans l'Algérie Antique'', University of Rouen, 2005 () * P. Trousset (2002). ' v. 10, p. 143-150. * Pius Bonifacius Gams, ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', Leipzig 1931, p. 467 * Stefano Antonio Morcelli, ''Africa christiana'', Volume I, Brescia 1816, pp. 228–229 * Konrad Eubel, ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', vol. 5, p. 268; vol. 6, p. 289 * J. Mesnage, ''L'Afrique chrétienne'', Paris 1912, pp. 335–336 * H. Jaubert, ''Anciens évêchés et ruines chrétiennes de la Numidie et de la Sitifienne'', in ''Recueil des Notices et Mémoires de la Société archéologique de Constantine'', vol. 46, 1913, pp. 63–64 {{Authority control Communes of Mila Province Archaeological sites in Algeria Province seats of Algeria