Arathia was a city and

bishopric 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 ...

in the late

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 Cappadocia Prima,

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, whose ecclesiastical metropolis was at Caesarea (modern Kayseri, Turkey).John Mason Neale, ''A History of the Holy Eastern Church'', I:75 London, 185
full text
/ref> Its location is unknown. The bishopric was revived as

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 ...

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

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 ...

in the 18th century.

History

The ancient city was important enough to become a bishopric in the late

of Cappadocia Prima (civil

Diocese of Pontus The Diocese of Pontus ( la, Dioecesis Pontica, el, Διοίκησις Πόντου/Ποντικῆς) was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of northern and northeastern Asia Minor up to the border with the Sassanid ...

), in the sway of the

Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...

, but would fade completely, plausibly at the advent of Islam. Neither its precise location is known, nor any residential bishop. * It has been confused in sources with the sees of Arad in Jordan (Holy Land) and Aradus in Syria (Phoenicia).

Titular see

The diocese was nominally restored as Latin Catholic

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 ...

no later than 1755 under the names Arathia / Arata (Curiate Italian) / Arath / Aratia (Latin) / Arathen(sis) / Arathien(sis) (Latin adjective). It has been vacant since 1853 (effectively suppressed?), having had the following incumbents, all of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank : * Richard Lincoln (1755.11.21 – 1757.06.21) as

Coadjutor Archbishop The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coad ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

(

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

) (1755.11.21 – 1757.06.21), later succeeded as Metropolitan Archbishop of Dublin (Ireland) (1757.06.21 – death 1763) * Toussaint Duvernin (1757.05.23 – 1785.08.08) as Auxiliary Bishop of

Diocese of Strasbourg The Archdiocese of Strasbourg ( la, Archidioecesis Argentoratensis o Argentinensis; french: Archidiocèse de Strasbourg; german: Erzbistum Straßburg; gsw-FR, Ärzbischofsìtz Strossburi(g)) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdi ...

(

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

) (1757.05.23 – death 1785.08.08) * Andrzej Chołoniewski (1804.08.20 – 1819) as Auxiliary Bishop of

Diocese of Vilnius The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Vilnius ( la, Archidioecesis Vilnensis; lt, Vilniaus arkivyskupija) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Lithuania. Established as the Diocese of Vilnius in th ...

( Lithuania) (1804.08.20 – death 1819) * Józef Marceli Dzięcielski (1819.12.17 – 1825.12.21) as Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Kujawy–Kaliska (

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

) (1819.12.17 – 1825.12.21); later Bishop of Lublin (Poland) (1825.12.21 – death 1839.02.14) * Francis Patrick Kenrick (1830.02.25 – 1842.04.22) as Coadjutor Bishop of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (USA) (1830.02.25 – 1842.04.22); later succeeded as Bishop of Philadelphia (1842.04.22 – 1851.08.19), Metropolitan Archbishop of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

(Maryland, USA) (1851.08.19 – death 1863.07.08) * Alexandre-Antonin Taché,

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, ...

(O.M.I.) (1850.06.12 – 1853.06.07) as Coadjutor Bishop of Saint-Boniface (

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

) (1850.06.12 – 1853.06.07); later succeeded as last suffragan Bishop of Saint-Boniface (Canada) (1853.06.07 – 1871.09.22), promoted first Metropolitan Archbishop of Saint-Boniface (1871.09.22 – death 1894.06.22).

Notes

Sources and external links

GCatholic - data for all sections
; Bibliography * Konrad Eubel, ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', vol. 6, pp. 94–95; vol. 7, p. 85; vol. 8, p. 115 * Gaetano Moroni, lemma 'Cappadocia' in ''Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni'', Venice, 1841, p. 93–95 Catholic titular sees in Asia Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Roman towns and cities in Turkey Former populated places in Turkey Populated places in ancient Cappadocia {{Byzantine-geo-stub