Vagada, also known as Vagadensis and Bagatensis, was a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in the

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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

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

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 ...

. It was a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

diocese.

Location

Vagada was located in the region of

. It has been tentatively identified with the ruins at El-Aira in the modern

Constantine Province Constantine () is one of the 58 provinces (''wilayas'') of Algeria, whose capital is the city of the same name, with 1 291 575 inhabitants, with a density of 460/km2 (1,200/sq mi) History In 1984 Mila Province was carved out of its territory. ...

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 ...

(36° 19' 3" North, 6° 49' 43" East), situated between what was

Cirta Cirta, also known by #Names, various other names in classical antiquity, antiquity, was the ancient Berbers, Berber, Punic people, Punic and Roman Empire, Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria, Constantine, Algeria. Cirta was ...

and

Thibilis Thibilis (a.k.a. Tibilis) was a Roman and Byzantine era town in what was Numidia but is today northeast Algeria. The site has extensive Roman and Byzantine ruins. History The numerous Latin inscriptions discovered on the site of Thibilis provided i ...

. Vagada was known to be on the Magerada River. Epigraphic remains have given the name of the town as Bagatensis.

Bishopric

Vagada was also 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 ...

of 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 ...

. The only known bishop of this diocese from antiquity is Fulgentius, who took part in the

Council of Carthage (484) 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 ...

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 Fulgentius was exiled. The current

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 ...

Bohdan Dzyurakh Bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh, C.Ss.R. (b. 1967, Hirske, Lviv Oblast, Hirske, Lviv Oblast, Ukrainian SSR) is a curial bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and titular bishop of Vagada (Numidia), Vagada. He is also head of the Supervisory Counc ...

, curial bishop of major archbishopric of Kyïv-Halyč who succeeded Robert Camilleri Azzopardi in 2004.Vagada
at www.gcatholic.org. Other notable bishops include

Paul Bouque Paul Bouque (6 July 1896 – 15 August 1979) was Bishop of Nkongsamba, Cameroon, from September 1955 until 16 June 1964, when he resigned. Life Paul Bouque was born in Hauconcourt, France on 6 July 1896. He was ordained a priest of Congregation o ...

(28 May 1934 Appointed – 14 Sep 1955) and

Denis James Hart Denis James Hart (born 16 May 1941) is a retired Australian prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Melbourne from 2001 to 2018. Early years and background Hart was born in East Melbourne, Victoria, the eldest of the three chil ...

(10 Nov 1997 Appointed – 22 Jun 2001). Known bishops * Fulgenzio (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

484) * Paul Bouque, (1934–1955) * Joannes Maria Michael Holterman (1956–1958) *

José Lecuona Labandibar José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

(1958–1997) *

(1997–2001) * Robert Camilleri Azzopardi (2001–2004) *

(2005–current)

References

{{coord missing, Algeria Archaeological sites in Algeria Roman towns and cities in Mauretania Caesariensis Ancient Berber cities 4th-century disestablishments History of Constantine Province Catholic titular sees in Africa Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Africa