The diocese of Rufiniana (
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
: Dioecesis Rufinianensis) is a suppressed and titular
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 ...
of the
Roman 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 ...
.
The exact location of the diocese, now lost to history but it was in northern
Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
.
History
There are two documented bishops of this diocese:
[Stefano Antonio Morcelli]
''Africa christiana''
Volume I, (Brescia
Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...
, 1816), p. 263.
*the Catholic Mariano, who spoke at the
Carthage conference of 411, which saw the Catholic and
Donatist
Donatism was a schism from the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Carthage from the fourth to the sixth centuries. Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and their prayers and sacraments to ...
bishop
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
s of Roman Africa gathered together; on that occasion the bishopric did not have Donatist bishops;
*the bishop Donatus, who took part in the synod gathered in Carthage by the Vandal king of Hungary in 484, after which he was exiled.
Today Rufiniana survives as a titular bishop's seat; the current titular bishop is Anton Leichtfried, auxiliary bishop of Sankt Pölten.
Known Bishops
* Mariano (
fl 411)
* Donato (fl 484)
* Nikë Prela (1969 - 1996)
* Luiz Vicente Bernetti, (1996 - 2005)
* Anton Leichtfried, (2006 - current)
References
Archaeological sites in Tunisia
Roman towns and cities in Africa (Roman province)
Catholic titular sees in Africa