Urusi was a

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on th ...

and ancient

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 ...

of 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 ...

Africa Proconsularis Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

in present-day

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. The town flourished from 30BC until 640AD and has been tentatively identified with ruins at Henchir Soudga, () in

Siliana Governorate Siliana Governorate ( ' ) is one of the twenty-four governorates (provinces) of Tunisia, is landlocked and is in the north of the country. It covers an area of 4,631 km2 and has a population of 223,087 (2014 census). The capital is Silia ...

. The ruins lie just outside the

Jebel Serj National Park Jabal, Jabel, Jebel or Jibal may refer to: People * Jabal (name), a male Arabic given name * Jabal (Bible), mentioned in the Hebrew Bible Places In Arabic, ''jabal'' or ''jebel'' (spelling variants of the same word) means 'mountain'. * Dzhebel ...

Bishopric

The town was made famous by the courage of the

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

Mansuetus of Urusi, who was burned alive, according to

Victor of Vita Victor Vitensis (or Victor of Vita; born circa 430) was an African bishop of the Province of Byzacena (called Vitensis from his See of Vita). His importance rests on his ''Historia persecutionis Africanae Provinciae, temporibus Genserici et Huniri ...

at the gate of Urusi. In 305, during the same persecution the

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

s of Lemsa, Zama and Furni, Tunisia had been burned. The

Diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, pro ...

was re-created in name at least, in 1933 as a

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 ...

and listed in the ''

Annuario Pontificio The ''Annuario Pontificio'' (Italian for ''Pontifical Yearbook'') is the annual directory of the Holy See of the Catholic Church. It lists the popes in chronological order and all officials of the Holy See's departments. It also provides names ...

''.

Known bishops

*Mansuetus, bishop of Urusi *Quintianus of Urusi

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

484 * William Thomas Porter, 1933–1950 *Teófilo José Pereira de Andrade, 1951–1954 *Peter Bernard Pereira 1955–1966 *Dante Frasnelli Tarter, 1967–1977 *Celso José Pinto da Silva 1978–1981 *

José Carlos Castanho de Almeida José Carlos Castanho de Almeida (14 June 1930 – 27 February 2022) was a Brazilian Roman Catholic prelate. Castanho de Almeida was born in Guareí, Brazil, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1953. He served as titular bishop of 'Urusi' and as ...

1982–1987 *

Luca Brandolini Luca Brandolini, CM (born 25 December 1933) is an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Bishop of Sora-Aquino-Pontecorvo from 1993 to 2009. Biography Luca Brandolini was born in Monte Compatri, and entered the Congregation ...

, 1987–1993 * Jesús Esteban Catalá Ibáñez 1996–1999 *josé María Libório Camino Saracho 1999–2002 * Buenaventura Malayo Famadico 2002–2003 * Julian Charles Porteous 2003–2013 * Jose Elmer Imas Mangalinao 2016-2018 *

Aquilino Bocos Merino Aquilino Bocos Merino, (; born 17 May 1938) is a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church, a member and official of the Claretians. He was Superior General of the order, properly known as the Congregation of Missionaries, Sons of the Immaculate Hea ...

, C.M.F. 2018 *VACANT

References

Cities in Tunisia Catholic titular sees in Africa {{RC-stub