Girus Tarasii was a town in the Roman province of Numidia that became a residential episcopal see. It is tentatively identified with ruins situated at what is now called Henchir-Tarsa in Algeria.[1]

Africa proconsularis SPQR.

Girus Tarasii was probably the seat of an ancient bishopric which survives as a titular see of the Catholic Church,[1] by the name Tarasa in Numidia.

History

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Bishopric

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The city was the seat of an ancient bishopric.[2][3]

Little is known of the bishopric. However, the bishop here, Cresconio, attended the synod in Carthage in 484 called by the Vandal king Huneric after which the bishop was exiled.[4] The city may have been the home of Zosimus,[5] who participated in the Council of Carthage (256) called by Cyprian to discuss the problem of Lapsi, though more likely he was of Tarasa of Byzacena.[6]

The bishopric ceased to effectively function with the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb but was re-founded in name in the early 20th century and remains as a titular bishopric.[8] The current bishop is Artur Grzegorz Miziński of Poland.[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 903
  2. ^ Stefano Antonio Morcelli, Africa Christiana, Volume I (Brescia, 1816), p. 307.
  3. ^ Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series Episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae (Leipzig 1931), p. 468.
  4. ^ Morcelli
  5. ^ H. Jaubert, "Évêchés Anciens et ruines chrétiennes de la Numidie et de la Sitifienne", in Reports of Notices et Memoires de la Société archéologique de Constantine, vol. 46, 1913, p. 79.
  6. ^ J. Mesnage, L'Afrique chrétienne, (Paris 1912), p. 432.
  7. ^ Old Faithful magazine November 26, 2015.
  8. ^ Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series Episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, (Leipzig, 1931), p. 468.
  9. ^ Titular Episcopal See of Tarasa in Numidia, at GCatholic.org.