Thiava, Numidia

Thiava was an ancient Roman-Berber civitas in Numidia, Africa Proconsulare and in the Vandal Kingdom. It was a Latin Catholic diocese.

Region around Thiava

History

It was located near Thagaste to the south of Hippo, in the high valley of the Medjerda,[1] in the Roman province of Numidia. The site is near modern near Annaba and Souk-Ahras, in Algeria. It was noted from 300–640AD.

The town was seat of a bishopric under Hippo.[2]

Thiava was notable for being almost completely Donatist (heretical) in its religion.[3] It was the site of a conflict with the Catholic Archbishop of Carthage, the church father Saint Augustine.

The town became a center of the Donatist controversy when Donatus Magnus visited the town.[4]

The city had been Donatist[5][6] but was returned to the Catholic fold by Augustine in the 390s.

The first bishop of the town was Honoratus, a childhood friend of Augustine who had appointed him. Honoratus had been a monk at nearby Thagaste.

In 402, Honoratus died in Thiava. As he had been a monk at both Thagaste and Thiava and his personal assets were large, there arose a dispute between Thiava and Alypius of Thagaste[7] It was becoming custom for monks to give their assets to the order where they became a monk and so Alypius felt the estate should go to his order.[8]

Augustine eventually decided the matter in favor of Thiava[9] but held that in future intestate estate of clergy be decided by the Roman civil law. This was an interesting outcome given his confections to Thagaste.

Christian rule ended in the 7th century with the spread of Islam.

Titular see

The diocese was nominally restored in 1933 as a Latin Catholic titular bishopric under the names of Thiava (Latin), adjective Thiaven(sis)/ Tiava (Curiate Italian).

It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank :[10]

See also

References
  1. Mark Vessey, A Companion to Augustine (John Wiley & Sons, 2015) p 134.
  2. Thiava at catholic-hierarchy.org
  3. François Decret, Early Christianity in North Africa (James Clarke & Co, 2011) p122.
  4. Serge Lancel, Saint Augustine, (Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd, 2002) p314.
  5. The Ecclesiastical History of M. L'abbe Fleury, from A.D. 400 to A.D. 429 (J.H. Parker, 1843)
  6. John Henry Parker, Ecclesiastical History from A.D. 400 to 456 with Notes, Volume 1 (Oxford, 1843) p166
  7. Serge Lancel, Saint Augustine, (Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd, 2002) p314.
  8. The Ecclesiastical History of M. L'abbe Fleury, from A.D. 400 to A.D. 429 (J.H. Parker, 1843)
  9. David Johnston, The Cambridge Companion to Roman Law (Cambridge University Press, 2015) p111.
  10. "Titular See of Thiava, Algeria". GCatholic. Retrieved 2018-02-01.

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