Roman Empire - Africa Proconsularis (125 AD)

The Diocese of Zella ( la, Dioecesis Zellensis, link=no) is a suppressed and

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 archbis ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. The diocese of Zella, is located in today's Tunisia. During the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

the Diocese was centered on a Roman town 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 ...

Byzacena Byzacena (or Byzacium) ( grc, Βυζάκιον, ''Byzakion'') was a Late Roman province in the central part of Roman North Africa, which is now roughly Tunisia, split off from Africa Proconsularis. History At the end of the 3rd century AD, t ...

. During

late antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

the city had both a

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 the ...

and

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

congregation. These two both sent bishops to the Conference of Carthage of 411. Today Zella survives as a

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox ...

ric and the current archbishop, personal title, is

Angelo Acerbi Angelo Acerbi (born 23 September 1925) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church, who has been an archbishop since 1974 and served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See as the Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand, the Netherlands, Colombia, H ...

, who was already the prelate of the

Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

's military sovereign.

Known bishops

*Donaziano † (fl411) *Natalico † (fl 411) (Donatist bishop) *Franz Brazys (1964–1967){{Cite news, date=December 31, 1964, title=MARIAN FATHER IS APPOINTED BISHOP, volume=LXVII Number 36, pages=16, work=The Catholic Transcript, url=https://thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=is&oid=CTR19641231-01&type=staticpdf&submitted=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22Marian+Father%22-------Hartford%2C+Connecticut&g-recaptcha-response=03AGdBq27K7PTcBfYKKMm-U9JqTsGsApPNrjKFGohJMuxo7bTjq4KwJu1P8K8QLPxhalaW5rAconM0GcogQWJpGOJd2yMIdr8XWK6mnaWwLZXLABRZwSsL3uDc2CSZ1Yx6RPEWvXcZK_Xzwr-Qy0VXbyffZblB_L1HIv2phTO3xIR0H6gOTkm6LbJTjZYpLRP8myVLL9v7yzhlFwbq4IvBpheZfZhX1fucc4dhhsrYDW8uHR5kdH87CYuX34a28AmoGGQSjxl80mYxB0qT9RYndWZ3gFSR_p7-JvbggIP9EMRKQn78Xbu_AIq903PMc6OzPO1fCDx9y9MsOyuQWRzARVaUAUHG4IMW5W4FlxqRCSnr7Z4o1pTRs1KtgvoyXlvTj10zxARbPuvHppHiQ2Phe8CnXCvNeRdOqNgdCeooR8ocIF8tdamcQEGvmbYAj1cGUlO72ClsVIC8Cg5ldEzHqQTC66A1Pe6Lvnjhs-xlVIWS4F2pOIRXe5OBHgmNTpATvha41jT68cBfFyVp-z0VdYsPDNI9DfUg2ziPT_rB-kwmw7hrJnfB0yw#page=16, access-date=December 3, 2021 * Cesare Zacchi (1967–1974) *

(1974)

References

Catholic Church in Tunisia Archaeological sites in Tunisia Roman towns and cities in Tunisia Lost cities and towns Catholic titular sees in Africa Ancient Berber cities Roman towns and cities in Africa (Roman province) Cities in Tunisia