Naissus (see)
Naissus was an ancient city and former bishopric in Balkanic Dacia, which remains a Latin Catholic titular see.
History
Naissus, today's Niš in Serbia, was important enough in the Roman province of Dacia Mediterranea to become an episcopal see at an early date and was a suffragan of the Metropolitan see in the Archdiocese of Sardica, in the sway of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.The city was wrecked by Attila's Huns but rebuilt, as the revival of the bishopric attests.
Residential bishops
The names of several of early Suffragan Bishops of Naissus are known:- Cyriacus, sympathized with the heresy Arianism and opposed Marcellus of Ancyra
- Gaudentius, till after 351, when he attended the council at Sirmium
- Bonosus, who was deposed
- Martianus, appointed by Pope Innocent I instead of the former
- Dalmatius, allegedly signator in 458 of the letter of the bishops to Byzantine emperor Leo I the Thracian after the lynching by Coptic mobs of the Patriarch Proterius of Alexandria
- Gaianus, invited to Constantinople by Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I Dicorus
- Proiectus, participant at the Ecumenical Second Council of Constantinople in 553.
Titular see
It is listed by the Catholic Church as a Latin titular see since the diocese was nominally restored in 1933 as Titular bishopric of Naissus / Naisso / Naissitan.It has had the following incumbents, of the fitting Episcopal rank, with a few archiepiscopal exceptions:
- William F. O’Shea, Maryknoll Fathers as only Apostolic Vicar of Heijo
- Henri Routhier, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate first as Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Grouard, then as last Apostolic Vicar of Grouard ; later promoted first Metropolitan Archbishop of Grouard–McLennan, died 1989
- Victor Hugo Martínez Contreras as Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Huehuetenango ; later succeeded as Bishop of Huehuetenango, President of Episcopal Conference of Guatemala, last Suffragan Bishop of Quetzaltenango, Los Altos, promoted first Metropolitan Archbishop of Los Altos, Quetzaltenango–Totonicapán, again President of Episcopal Conference of Guatemala
- Paul Josef Cordes first as Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Paderborn, then as Secretary of Pontifical Council for the Laity
- Titular Archbishop: Paul Josef Cordes as President of Pontifical Council “Cor unum”, created Cardinal-Deacon of S. Lorenzo in Piscibus
- Titular Archbishop: Ambrose Madtha as papal diplomat : Apostolic Nuncio to Ivory Coast, previously Chargé d’affaires in PR China
- Valdir Mamede, Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Brasília, no previous prelature.