Girus Tarasii was a town in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) 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 ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Numidia Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between ...

that became a residential

episcopal see An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...

. It is tentatively identified with ruins situated at what is now called Henchir-Tarsa in

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 903 Girus Tarasii was probably the seat of an ancient

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 ...

which survives as 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 archbi ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, by the name ''Tarasa in Numidia''.

History

Bishopric

The city was the seat of an ancient

. Little is known of the bishopric. However, the bishop here, Cresconio, attended the synod in Carthage in 484 called by the

Vandal The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vandal ...

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 ma ...

after which the bishop was exiled. The city may have been the home of Zosimus, who participated in the

Council of Carthage (256) 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 ...

called by

Cyprian Cyprian (; ; to 14 September 258 AD''The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite: Vol. IV.'' New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1975. p. 1406.) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Christian writer of Berbers, Berber descent, ...

to discuss the problem of '' Lapsi'', though more likely he was of Tarasa of Byzacena. * Zosimus? (fl 256) * Cresconio ( fl 484) *

Urbain Etienne Morlion Urbain is a name of French origin which may refer to: ;Family name * Achille Urbain (1884–1957), French biologist * Georges Urbain (1872–1938), French chemist * Ismael Urbain (1812–1884), French journalist and interpreter * Jacques Urbain ...

(1939–1959) * Antonino Pinel (1961–1987) *

Luis del Castillo Estrada Luis del Castillo Estrada, S.J. (born 21 June 1935, in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan Roman Catholic cleric. Biography Luis del Castillo was ordained priest on 30 July 1966 in the Society of Jesus. On 9 April 1988 he was appointed titular bishop o ...

(1988–1999) * Artur Grzegorz Mizinski, from 3 May 2004 The bishopric ceased to effectively function with the

Muslim conquest of the Maghreb The conquest of the Maghreb by the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates commenced in 647 and concluded in 709, when the Byzantine Empire lost its last remaining strongholds to Caliph Al-Walid I. The North African campaigns were part of the century ...

but was re-founded in name in the early 20th century and remains 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 an ...

ric. The current bishop is

Artur Grzegorz Miziński Artur is a cognate to the common male given name Arthur meaning "bear-like", or “of honour”. It is believed to possibly be descended from the Roman surname Artorius or the Celtic bear-goddess Artio or more probably from the Celtic word ''a ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

.Titular Episcopal See of Tarasa in Numidia
at GCatholic.org.

References

Catholic titular sees in Africa Roman towns and cities in Algeria Ancient Berber cities {{africa-RC-titularsee-stub

History

Bishopric

See also

References