Scillium is an ancient city in 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 ...
of
Africa Proconsularis, Scillium must not be confounded with
Silli, or Sililli, in Numidia, the situation of which is unknown
nor, as Battandier does, identified with
Kasrin, which is Cillium, a see of Byzantium. Its
episcopal see
An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, 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, mak ...
was a
suffragan
A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations.
In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...
of the see of
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...
, capital of the province.
History
On 17 July, 180, six martyrs (
Scillitan Martyrs) suffered for the Faith at Scillium; later, a
basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...
in which
St. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afri ...
preached was dedicated to them (near Douar esh-Shott, west of the town). The Greek version of their Acts, in an addition which is later, says they were natives of "Ischle, Ischle, in Numidia". This name is a Greek transcription of Scillium. The tradition is already recorded in the primitive calendar of Carthage. The Greek compiler intended possibly to speak not of the Province of Numidia, but of the Numidian country and so would have placed Scillium in Proconsular Numidia. In an epitaph of Simitthu, now
Chemtou
Chemtou or Chimtou was an ancient Roman- Berber town in northwestern Tunisia, located 20 km from the city of Jendouba near the Algerian frontier. It was known as Simitthu (or Simitthus in Roman period) in antiquity.
History
Chemtou was foun ...
, we read Iscilitana; Simitthu was certainly in Proconsular Numidia, but was Scillium near it? A definitive answer is impossible, and the exact location of Scillium is unknown.
Two of its bishops are mentioned: Squillacius, present at the
Conference of Carthage in 411; and Pariator, who signed the letter addressed in 646 by the council of the proconsulate to the Patriarch Paul of Constantinople against the
monothelites.
The town is mentioned in the seventh century by
Georgius Cyprius
George of Cyprus ( el, Γεώργιος Κύπριος; Latinized as ''Georgius Cyprius'') was a Byzantine geographer of the early seventh century.
Nothing is known of his life save that he was born at Lapithos in the island of Cyprus. He is kno ...
under the name of Schele.
Scillium was the native place of
St. Cucuphas, martyred at
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, and of
St. Felix
Felix is a given name that stems from Latin (genitive ) and means "happy" or "lucky". Its other form is Felicity.
In German, Dutch, Czech, Slovenian, Romanian and Scandinavian languages the form "Felix" is the same as English. In French, Hun ...
, martyred at
Girona
Girona (officially and in Catalan language, Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter River, Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in ...
.
Sources
Note
The above is taken from the entry "Scillium" by Sophrone Pétridès in the ''
Catholic Encyclopedia
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...
'' of 1912. Scilium is the spelling that appears in the 2013 edition of the ''
Annuario Pontificio
The ''Annuario Pontificio'' (Italian for ''Pontifical Yearbook'') is the annual directory of the Holy See of the Catholic Church. It lists the popes in chronological order and all officials of the Holy See's departments. It also provides names ...
'' and some other recent sources. Other sources also report the Scilitan or
Scillitan Martyrs not as six but as twelve and as having been tried and executed in Carthage.
[For example, ''Martyrologium Romanum'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2000, ), p. 374]
References
{{Romano-Berber cities in Roman Africa
Roman towns and cities in Tunisia
Catholic titular sees in Africa