Arathia
Arathia was an Ancient city and bishopric in Asia Minor, now eastern Anatolia (Asian Turkey), which only remains as Latin Catholic titular see.
History
The Ancient city was important enough to become a bishopric in the late Roman province of Cappadocia Prima (civil Diocese of Pontus), in the sway of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, but would fade completely, plausibly at the advent of Islam. Neither its precise location is known, nor any residential bishop.
- It has been confused in sources with the sees of Arad in Jordan (Holy Land) and Aradus in Syria (Phoenicia).
Titular see
The diocese was nominally restored as Latin Catholic titular bishopric no later then 1755 under the names Arathia / Arata (Curiate Italian) / Arath / Aratia (Latin) / Arathen(sis) / Arathien(sis) (Latin adjective).
It is vacant since 1853 (effectively suppressed?), having had the following incumbents, all of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank :
- Richard Lincoln (1755.11.21 – 1757.06.21) as Coadjutor Archbishop of Dublin (Ireland) (1755.11.21 – 1757.06.21), later succeeded as Metropolitan Archbishop of Dublin (Ireland) (1757.06.21 – death 1763)
- Toussaint Duvernin (1757.05.23 – 1785.08.08) as Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Strasbourg (France) (1757.05.23 – death 1785.08.08)
- Andrzej Chołoniewski (1804.08.20 – 1819) as Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Vilnius (Lithuania) (1804.08.20 – death 1819)
- Józef Marceli Dzięcielski (1819.12.17 – 1825.12.21) as Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Kujawy–Kaliska (Poland) (1819.12.17 – 1825.12.21); later Bishop of Lublin (Poland) (1825.12.21 – death 1839.02.14)
- Francis Patrick Kenrick (1830.02.25 – 1842.04.22) as Coadjutor Bishop of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (USA) (1830.02.25 – 1842.04.22); later succeeded as Bishop of Philadelphia (1842.04.22 – 1851.08.19), Metropolitan Archbishop of Baltimore (Maryland, USA) (1851.08.19 – death 1863.07.08)
- Alexandre-Antonin Taché, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I.) (1850.06.12 – 1853.06.07) as Coadjutor Bishop of Saint-Boniface (Canada) (1850.06.12 – 1853.06.07); later succeeded as last suffragan Bishop of Saint-Boniface (Canada) (1853.06.07 – 1871.09.22), promoted first Metropolitan Archbishop of Saint-Boniface (1871.09.22 – death 1894.06.22).
See also
- List of Catholic dioceses in Turkey
Sources and external links
- Bibliography
- Konrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, vol. 6, pp. 94–95; vol. 7, p. 85; vol. 8, p. 115
- Gaetano Moroni, lemma 'Cappadocia' in Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni, Venice, 1841, p. 93–95