Lamphua, or Castellum Phuensium, was an ancient city and bishopric in Roman Africa and remains a Latin Catholic
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 ...
.
Its present location is Aïn-Foua, in modern
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 ...
.
History
Lamphua was important enough in the late
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 ...
of
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 ...
to be one of its many
suffragan
A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations.
In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...
sees, but was to fade.
Titular see
The diocese was nominally restored in 1933 as a
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 ...
(Curiate Italian name variant Lamfua).
It has had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank :
* Luigi Cicuttini (1966.09.07 – 1971.01.05)
* Philip Francis Smith,
Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I.) (1972.06.26 – 1980.03.14) as Apostolic Vicar of
Jolo
Jolo () is a volcanic island in the southwest Philippines and the primary island of the province of Sulu, on which the capital of the same name is situated. It is located in the Sulu Archipelago, between Borneo and Mindanao, and has a populatio ...
(Philippines) (1972.06.26 – 1979.04.11) and
Coadjutor Bishop
A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese.
The coa ...
of
Cotabato
Cotabato, formerly and still commonly referred to as North Cotabato and officially the Province of Cotabato, is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Soccsksargen Regions of the Philippines, regi ...
(Philippines) (1979.04.11 – 1979.11.05); later succeeded as Metropolitan Archbishop of Cotabato (1979.11.05 – retired 1998.05.30)
* Sofio Guinto Balce (1980.05.09 – 1988.05.21)
* Gheorghi Ivanov Jovčev (1988.07.06 – 1995.11.13)
* Jacson Damasceno Rodrigues,
Redemptorists (C.SS.R.) (1996.12.18 – 1998.03.16)
* Philip Huang Chao-ming (黃兆明) (1998.06.27 – 2001.11.19)
* Francisco González Valer,
Sons of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (S.F.) (2001.12.28 – 2024.03.04), Auxiliary Bishop emeritus of
Washington (USA)
*
Lawrence J. Sullivan, Auxiliary Bishop of
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
(2024.12.20 - )
See also
*
Catholic Church in Algeria
The Catholic Church in Algeria is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome. Prior to independence, the European Catholic settlers had historic legacy and powerful presence, but today Catholics co ...
References
Source and External links
GCatholic, with titular incumbent links
Catholic titular sees in Africa
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