Bonusta

Last updated March 15, 2019

Bonusta was a town, not far from Carthage, in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis. No trace of it has been identified.^[1]

Carthage was the center or capital city of the ancient Carthaginian civilization, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now the Tunis Governorate in Tunisia.

In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic and, until the tetrarchy, the largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The word province in Modern English has its origins in the Latin term used by the Romans.

Bishop Rufinianus

At the Conference of Carthage (411), which brought together for joint discussion the Catholic and Donatist bishops of Roman Africa, Bonusta was represented by the Catholic bishop Rufinianus. He declared that there never been Donatists at Bonusta. Primianus, a Donatist, responded: "He (Rufinianus) was one of us. We do have people there for whom we could ordain a bishop." Rufinianus retorted: "There never were."^[1]^[2]^[3]

Donatism was a schism in the Church of Carthage from the fourth to the sixth centuries AD. Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and their prayers and sacraments to be valid. Donatism had its roots in the long-established Christian community of the Roman Africa province in the persecutions of Christians under Diocletian. Named after the Berber Christian bishop Donatus Magnus, Donatism flourished during the fourth and fifth centuries.

The Diocese of Africa was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of North Africa, except Mauretania Tingitana. Its seat was at Carthage, and it was subordinate to the Praetorian prefecture of Italy.

Bishop Cyprianus

In the Notitia Provinciarum et Civitatum Africae,^[4] the name of Bishop Cyprianus of Bonusta appears in the 31st place in the list of Catholic bishops of Africa Proconsularis whom the Vandal king Huneric summoned to Carthage in 484 and then exiled.^[1]^[2]^[3]

The Vandal Kingdom or Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans was established by the Germanic Vandal people under Genseric, and ruled in North Africa and the Mediterranean from 435 AD to 534 AD.

Huneric or Hunneric or Honeric was King of the Vandal Kingdom (477–484) and the oldest son of Genseric. He abandoned the imperial politics of his father and concentrated mainly on internal affairs. He was married to Eudocia, daughter of western Roman Emperor Valentinian III (419–455) and Licinia Eudoxia. The couple had one child, a son named Hilderic.

Titular see

No longer a residential bishopric, Bonusta is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.^[5]

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with approximately 1.3 billion baptised Catholics worldwide as of 2017. As the world's "oldest continuously functioning international institution", it has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilisation. The church is headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope. Its central administration, the Holy See, is in the Vatican City, an enclave within the city of Rome in Italy.

A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese".

Related Research Articles

Parthenia was a Roman–Berber town in the former Roman province of Mauretania Sitifensis, the easternmost part of ancient Mauretania. It was located in what is now northern Algeria.

Gafsa, originally called Capsa in Latin, is the capital of Gafsa Governorate of Tunisia. It lends its Latin name to the Mesolithic Capsian culture. With a population of 105,264, Gafsa is the 9th-largest Tunisian city.

The Councils of Carthage, or Synods 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.

The name Early African Church is given to the Christian communities inhabiting the region known politically as Roman Africa, and comprised geographically within the following limits, namely: the Mediterranean littoral between Cyrenaica on the east and the river Ampsaga on the west; that part of it that faces the Atlantic Ocean being called Mauretania. The evangelization of Africa followed much the same lines as those traced by Roman civilization.

Thélepte Place in Kasserine Governorate, Tunisia

Thelepte was a city in the Roman province of Byzacena, now in western Tunisia. It is located 5 km from the modern town of Fériana, near the border with Algeria, at around 34°58′33″N8°35′38″E.

Macri, or perhaps Macras, was a town and bishopric in the Roman province of Mauretania Sitifensis.

Abitinae was a town in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis and is famed for the Martyrs of Abitinae.

Victor Vitensis was an African bishop of the Province of Byzacena. His importance rests on his Historia persecutionis Africanae Provinciae, temporibus Genserici et Hunirici regum Wandalorum.

The Notice of the Provinces and Cities of Africa is a Byzantine-era document listing the bishops and sees in the Roman provinces of North Africa. The cause of its preparation was the summoning of the episcopate to Carthage on 1 February 484 by the Arian king of the Vandals, Huneric (477–84).

Medjana is a town and commune (municipality) in Bordj Bou Arréridj Province, Algeria. It is the (approximative) location the Ancient city and bishopric Vardimissa, which remains a Latin Catholic titular see.

Djinet, the classical Cissi, is a port town and commune in the Bordj Menaïel District of Boumerdès Province, Algeria, east of the mouth of the Isser River and around Cape Djinet. As of 2008, the population of the municipality is 21,966.

Capra was an ancient Roman–Berber town in the province of Mauretania Caesariensis. The civitas was located in the present-day area of Béni Mansour and Béni Abbès, Algeria. It was a bishopric in the Roman Catholic Church.

Avitta Bibba was a town in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis. The town is tentatively identified with ruins at Henchir-Bour-Aouitta in Tunisia.

The episcopal see of Carthage, the city restored to importance by Julius Caesar and Augustus, in which Christianity was firmly established by the 2nd century, was the most important in the whole of Roman Africa and continued as a residential see even after it had fallen to the Muslim conquest, until the start of the second millennium.

Simminensis is an ancient and titular episcopal see of the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis in modern Tunisia, and a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Carthage.

Saint Fiorenzo or Florenzi was a North African bishop during the latter Roman Empire, venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. He is known to history from hagiographies and the Notitia Provinciarum et Civitatum Africae Bishop Florients He was Bishop of Simminensis, 30 km east of Carthage in Roman North Africa. He suffered the persecution at the hand of the Arian, Vandal king Huneric for his role in the Council of Carthage of 484 where he supported, the Catholic position rejecting Arianism. He was Exiled to Corsica and forced to hard labor, there continued his apostolic work until his death. Also according to tradition, he was initially buried in the town that bears his name, San Fiorenzo. In 760AD the bishop of Treviso Titian, through a vision, discovered his relics and transferred them to his city, placing them in the church of St. John the Baptist. Currently his remains are on display to the public worship in the Cathedral of Treviso.

Vazari-Didda or Vazari Didda) was an Ancient city and bishopric in Roman Africa, which remains a Latin Catholic titular see.

Secundus of Tigisis was an early church leader and primate of Numidia. He was a leading organiser of the early Donatist movement in Carthage.

Auzegera was a Roman-Berber town in the province of Africa Proconsularis and in late antiquity Byzacena. It was a Catholic Church diocese.

Melzi was a civitas (town) of the Roman Empire during late antiquity. It was also known as Meditanus.

References

1 2 3 Stefano Antonio Morcelli, Africa christiana, Volume I, Brescia 1816, pp. 105–106
1 2 Auguste Audollent, v. Bonustensis in Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques, vol. IX, 1937, col. 1136
1 2 Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 464
↑ Johann Peter Kirsch, "Notitia Provinciarum et Civitatum Africae" in Catholic Encyclopedia (New York 1911)
↑ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 852

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Morcelli-1] 1 2 3 Stefano Antonio Morcelli, Africa christiana, Volume I, Brescia 1816, pp. 105–106

[Audollent-2] 1 2 Auguste Audollent, v. Bonustensis in Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques, vol. IX, 1937, col. 1136

[Gams-3] 1 2 Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 464

[4] Johann Peter Kirsch, "Notitia Provinciarum et Civitatum Africae" in Catholic Encyclopedia (New York 1911)

[5] Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 852