Mutugenna or Muttegena was a '' colonia'' (town) of the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, Berber and

Vandal The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...

empires, located in 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, ...

. The city is generally identified with the ruins at Ain-Tebla in modern

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

. Mutugenna was also the locus of a

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 ...

and was an important site in the development of 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 the ...

schism. The Diocese of Mutugenna (Dioecesis Mutugennensis) is today 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 ...

in the

episcopal province Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

of Numidia.

Known bishops

*Antonio fl.411 (Catholic bishop) *Splendonio (fl. 411) (Donatist bishop) *Thomas Joseph Mardaga (December 9, 1966 – March 9, 1968) * Philip Lussier, C.SS.R. (August 17, 1968 – December 15, 1970) *William Mathias Schmidt, O.S.B. (June 10, 1972 – May 14, 1976) * Bernardino Álvarez Rivera, O.F.M. (22 November 1976 – 12 July 2010) * Roberto Bordi, O.F.M. (6 November 2010 Apostolic Vicariate of El Beni)

Donatism

Muttugenna was an Early center of

Donatism 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 ...

and Augustine of Hippo visited the town to confront the Donatist rebaptising. Indeed, only two bishops are known from Mutugenna, the two rival bishops at the

Council of Carthage (411) The Councils of Carthage were church synods held during the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries in the city of Carthage in Africa. The most important of these are described below. Synod of 251 In May 251 a synod, assembled under the presidency of Cyprian ...

, Catholic Antonio and Donatists Splendonio. The city was not far from

Hippo The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extant ...

and the bishop

Augustine 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 A ...

went there several times. On one occasion he heard there had been rebaptising of Catholics and he went to reproach the practise but was unable to find the people in question.Letter of Augustine to Maximinpage 73-75
Today Mutugenna survives as titular bishop; the current bishop is Roberto Bordi, auxiliary bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of El Beni.

References

{{reflist, 2 Roman towns and cities in Mauretania Caesariensis 7th-century disestablishments in the Exarchate of Africa Archaeological sites in Algeria Former populated places in Algeria Ancient Berber cities Catholic titular sees in Africa