Nicives, identifiable with

N'Gaous N'Gaous ( la, Nicives, link=no) is an ancient town in northeastern Algeria, The city of N'Gaous is a city located southwest of the state of Batna, an area of 80.45 km, rising 770 meters above sea level, in a beautiful place among the str ...

Batna Province Batna Province ( ar, ولاية باتنة, Latn, ar, Wilāyat Bātnah) is a province of Algeria, in the region of Aurès. The capital is Batna. Localities in this province include N'Gaous, Merouana and Timgad. Belezma National Park is in th ...

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

, was an

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...

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 ...

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

The town was the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair, a chair ...

of a

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 h ...

Christian

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 ...

There are three bishops known from Niceives. *At the 411 Conference of Carthage, which saw the

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 ...

s and

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 ...

s, debate, the town was represented by the Catholic ''Justus episcopus Nicibensis'', who did not have Donatist counterpart. *Among the Catholic bishops called to Carthage in 484 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 ...

the Vandal was Paulus Nibensis, which according to Mesnage is to be read as Nicibensis. * Finally a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

inscription discovered in the region of

and dating back to 581 or 582 shows the name Colombo: according to the same author this Columbus may be the bishop referred to in some letters from

Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregoria ...

written at the beginning of the 7th century who was appointed to investigate Massimiano bishop of Pudenziana, accused by his deacons of being bribed by

s. The town lasted as a legal entity, through the

period, till the

Muslim conquest of the Maghreb The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb ( ar, الْفَتْحُ الإسلَامِيُّ لِلْمَغرِب) continued the century of rapid Muslim conquests following the death of Muhammad in 632 and into the Byzantine-controlled territories of ...

in the 7th century. Today Nicives 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 a ...

ric 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 ...

and the current

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

is Andrzej Jerzy Zglejszewski, auxiliary bishop of Rockville.La sede titolare
at www.catholic-hierarchy.org.

Bishops

* Justus (mentioned in 411) * Paul † (mentioned in 484) * Colombo † (before 581 – after 602) * Angelo Félix Mugnol (1966–1969) * Guillermo Escobar Vélez (1969–1971) *

Abel Alonso Núñez Abel ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hābīl is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He was the younger brother of Cain, and the younger son of Adam and Eve, the first couple in Biblical history. He was a shepherd w ...

(1971–1976) *

Stanley Joseph Ott Stanley Joseph Ott, S.T.D., (June 29, 1927 – November 28, 1992) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Baton Rouge from 1983 until his death in 1992. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archd ...

(1976–1983) * José Mário Stroeher (1983–1986) Rio Grande * William Jerome McCormack (1986–2013) * Andrzej Jerzy Zglejszewski, from February 11, 2014

References

{{Subject bar , portal1= Catholicism 5th-century establishments Catholic titular sees in Africa Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Africa

History

Bishops

See also

References