Nova Barbara (Latin: ''Novabarbarensis'') was a

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 town in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Numidia. It has been tentatively identified with the stone ruins at Beni-Barbar or Henchir-Barbar,

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

. The Beni-Barbar tribe take its name from this location, though it has been several centuries since it lived there. It was also the seat of an ancient

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 ...

diocese 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 associa ...

. The ancient bishopric is now 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 archbis ...

of Nova Barbara in the

Ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of seve ...

of Numidia. The only known ancient bishop from Novabarbara was Adeodato, who participated in the synod meeting in Carthage in 484 called by the

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 ...

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 ...

. Huneric was an Arian Christian and as part of his program to remove Catholic influence in his newly established domains he had Adeodato later exiled. Today Nova Barbara survives as

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 titular bishop is Toshihiro Sakai, auxiliar bishop of

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, Japan.

Known bishops

*''Titular bishop'': Toshihiro Sakai (2018.06.01 – present) *''Titular bishop'': Alberto Vera Aréjula, O. de M. (2015.03.30 – 2018.04.25) *''Titular bishop'': Stephen Tjephe (2009.06.19 – 2014.11.15) *''Titular bishop'': Guillermo Rodrigo Teodoro Ortiz Mondragón (2000.01.29 – 2005.10.19) *''Titular bishop'': (Archbishop) Jorge Ferreira da Costa Ortiga (1987.11.09 – 1999.06.05) *''Titular bishop'': Basil Christopher Butler, O.S.B. (1966.11.29 – 1986.09.21) *Adeodato † (mentioned in 484)

References

{{reflist Ancient Berber cities Catholic titular sees in Africa Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Africa Roman towns and cities in Algeria