Hierocaesarea Explained

Hierocaesarea or Hierokaisareia, from the Greek for 'sacred' and the Latin for 'Caesar's', also known as Hieracome or Hierakome, was a town and bishopric in the late Roman province of Lydia, the metropolitan see of which was Sardis. It was inhabited during Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine times.

History

This town is mentioned by Ptolemy. Judging from its coins, it worshipped the goddess Artemis Persica. Its site is located between Sazoba and Kumkuyucak in Asiatic Turkey.

Bishopric

It is mentioned as an episcopal see in all the Notitiae Episcopatuum until the 12th or 13th century,^[1] but only three of its bishops are known:

• Cosinius, at the Council of Chalcedon,^[2] 451;
• Zacharias, at the Second Council of Nicaea, 787;^[3]
• Theodore, at the Council of Constantinople (879-880).

The see remains a (vacant) titular see in the Roman Catholic Church, with nominal bishops appointed.^[4]

• Bishop Ernesto de Paula (1960.01.09 – 1994.12.31)
• Bishop Timothy Phelim O'Shea, OFMCap (1950.05.24 – 1959.04.25)
• Bishop Franz Justus Rarkowski, SM (1938.01.07 – 1950.02.09)
• Bishop John Marie Laval (1911.09.11 – 1937.06.04)
• Bishop Giuseppe Astuni (1903.01.21 – 1911.02.21)
• Bishop Alessandro Beniamino Zanecchia-Ginnetti, OCD (1902.06.09 – 1902.06.18)
• Bishop Désiré-François-Xavier Van Camelbeke, MEP (1884.01.15 – 1901.11.09)
• Bishop Luigi Bienna (1845.04.24 – 1882.07.02)
• Bishop John Bede Polding, OSB (later Archbishop) (1832.07.03 – 1842.04.05)^[5]
• Bishop-elect José Seguí, OESA (later Archbishop) (1829.07.27 – 1830.07.05)
• Bishop Antonio Maria Trigona (later Archbishop) (1806.03.31 – 1817.07.28)
• Bishop Gregory Stapleton (1800.11.07 – 1802.05.23)
• Bishop Charles Berington (1786.06.02 – 1798.06.08)
• Bishop Santiago Hernández, OP (1757.08.13 – 1777.02.06)
• Bishop Louis-Joseph de Châteauneuf de Rochebonne (1720.03.04 – 1722.03.01)

Sources

38.7975°N 27.7919°W

Notes and References

1. Joseph Bingham, Origines Ecclesiasticae; Or the Antiquities of the Christian Church and Other Works: In Nine Volumes, Volume 3 (Straker, 1843)p105.
2. Richard Price, Michael Gaddis, The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon, Volume 1 p95 (Liverpool University Press, 2005) p95.
3. Michel Le Quien, Oriens christianus p891.
4. http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t0861.htm Titular Episcopal See of Hierocæsarea
5. https://www.sydneycatholic.org/about/history/Polding.shtml John Bede POLDING