Village in Ruse, Bulgaria
Ryahovo (
Bulgarian: Ряхово) is a village in northern
Bulgaria, and as Ancient Ap(p)iaria a former bishopric, remaining a Latin Catholic
titular see.
It is located in the
municipality of
Slivo Pole in
Ruse Province.
As of February 2011, it had a population of 1,637 inhabitants.
History
An
ancient Roman fort known as Appiaria (
Greek: Ἀππιάρια) was built on the site under
Roman Emperor
Vespasian forming part of the
limes Moesiae defences on the banks of the Danube. Its garrison was at some time Ala I Atectorigiana.
[1]
It was probably destroyed by seventh century Bulgarian invaders.
In late 1916, it came under Romanian occupation, from the early morning of October 1st to the late night of October 3rd, during the
Flămânda Offensive.
[2]
Apiaria Bight on
Brabant Island in the
Palmer Archipelago,
Antarctica, was named after the village.
[3]
Ecclesiastical History
Appiaria was important enough in the
Roman province of
Moesia Inferior (=Secunda) to become a
suffragan diocese of the capital's Metropolitan
Archdiocese of Marcianopolis, in the sway of the
Patriarchate of Constantinople.
It has two documented incumbents :
The see isn't mentioned in the Notitia Episcopatuum by pseudo-Epifanius, edited under Emperor
Heraclius I (circa 640), probably having ceased after the ruinous Bulgarian invasion.
[4]
Titular see
The diocese was nominally restored (in 1920?) as
Titular bishopric of Apiaria (Latin until 1925) / Appiaria (Italian from the start, Latin since 1925) / Appiaren(sis) (Latin adjective).
It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank, including an
Eastern Catholic:
- Bonifatius Sauer (신상원 보니파시오), Missionary
Benedictine Congregation of Saint Ottilien (O.S.B.) (1920.08.25 – death 1950.02.07), first as
Apostolic Vicar of
Wonsan (North
Korea) (1920.08.25 – 1940.01.12), later as
Abbot Ordinary of
Territorial Abbacy of Tŏkugen (North Korea) (1940.01.12 – 1950.02.07), also
Apostolic Administrator of the renamed (above)
Apostolic Vicariate of Kanko (Hamheung, North Korea) (1940.01.12 – 1950.02.07)
- Joseph Lennox Federal (1951.02.05 – 1960.03.31) as
Auxiliary Bishop of
Diocese of Salt Lake City (Utah, USA) (1951.02.05 – 1958.05.01); next promoted
Coadjutor Bishop of Salt Lake City (1958.05.01 – 1960.03.31), succeeding as Bishop of Salt Lake City (1960.03.31 – retired 1980.04.22), died 2000
- Thomas Austin Murphy (1962.05.23 – death 1991.11.17) as Auxiliary Bishop of
Baltimore (Maryland, USA) (1962.05.23 – retired 1984.05.29) and as emeritate
- Vasile Bizău (2007.10.27 – 2011.06.11) as
Bishop of Curia of the
Romanian Catholic Church (
Byzantine Rite (2007.10.27 – 2011.06.11); later Eparch (Bishop) of
Maramureş of the Romanians (
Romania) (2011.06.11 – ...)
- Ernesto Giobando,
Jesuit Order (S.J.) (2014.03.05 – ...), Auxiliary Bishop of
Archdiocese of Buenos Aires (
Argentina).
See also
References
-
^ Nicolay Sharankov, An Overlooked Inscription of Ala I Atectorigiana from Appiaria. – Archaeologia Bulgarica, 3, 2016 pp 33-40
-
^ Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, 23 oct. 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, pp. 136-137 and 142-143
-
^
"Bulgarian Antarctic Gazetteer" (PDF) (in Bulgarian).
Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. May 2021. p. 14. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
-
^ Raymond Janin, La hiérarchie ecclésiastique dans le diocèse de Thrace, in Revue des études byzantines, Vol. 17, 1959, p. 140-141
Sources and external links
- Bibliography
- Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 428
- Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. I, coll. 1225-1226
- Daniele Farlati e Jacopo Coleti, Illyricum Sacrum, vol. VIII, Venice 1819, pp. 110–111