Marazanae Explained

Marazanae was a Roman town of the Roman province of Byzacena^{[1] [2]} during the Roman Empire and into late antiquity.^{[3] [4]}

Location

The town was between Sufes and Aquae Regiae.^{[5] [6]}

The ruins at Henchir-Guennara,^[7] (Tunisia) dating from the Roman Empire are tentatively attributed to Marazanae.^[8] The town appears on the Antonine Itinerary^[9] and is believed to have been on a crossroads during antiquity.

Bishopric

The town was also the seat of an ancient Christian bishopric.^[10] During the Donatist controversy there were congregations both of Catholics and of Donatists in the town.^[11] Marazane, perhaps identifiable with Henchir-Guenmara in today's Tunisia, is an ancient episcopal seat of the Bizacena Roman province.

There are five ancient documented bishops of Marazane.^{[12] [13]}

• Felice who took part in the Council of Carthage (256) called by Saint Cyprian to discuss the issue of the lapsii.
• At the Council of Carthage (411), between the Catholic and Donatists of Roman Africa the town was represented by the Catholic Eunomio and the Donatist Habetdeus.
• Vindiciano attended the synod assembled in Carthage by the Arian King Huneric of the Vandal Kingdom in 484, after which Vindiciano was exiled.
• Saturnino participated in the anti-monotheistic Council of 641.

Today the bishopric of Marazane survives as a titular bishopric^[14] and the current bishop is Krzysztof Chudzio, auxiliary bishop of Przemyśl.

Notes and References

1. http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t1076.htm Entry
2. Société de l'histoire de France, Volume 41 (La Société, 1845) p152.
3. Claude Lepelley, Xavier Dupuis, Frontières et limites géographiques de l'Afrique du Nord antique: hommage a Pierre Salama : actes de la table ronde réunie à Paris les 2 et 3 mai 1997 (Publications de la Sorbonne, 1999) p170
4. Edward White Benson, Cyprian: His Life, His Times, His Work: His Life, His Times, His Work (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 18 Oct. 2004) p603-604.
5. Konrad Mannert, Géographie ancienne des états barbaresques(Roret, 1842 - 778) p428.
6. Bulletin de la Société de géographie (Delagrave, 1835) p.356.
7. https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/315002 Henchir-Guennara: a Pleiades place resource
8. https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/329225 Marazanae
9. Conrad MANNERT, Joseph DUESBERG, Louis MARCUS (Professor of the German Language and Literature.)Géographie ancienne des États barbaresques, d'après l'allemand de Mannert [from the “Geographie der Griechen und Romer, etc.], par MM. L. Marcus et Duesberg, avec des additions et des notes par M. L. Marcus (Paris, 1842)
10. J. Mesnage, L'Afrique chrétienne, (Paris, 1912), p. 208
11. Brent D. Shaw, Sacred Violence: African Christians and Sectarian Hatred in the Age of Augustine (Cambridge University Press, 2011)page.xv.
12. [Pius Bonifacius Gams]
13. Stefano Antonio Morcelli, Africa christiana, Volume I, (Brescia, 1816), pp. 213–214.
14. http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/d2m30.html Entry