Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/696

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THEVESTE


634


THIBAUT


brother of St. Theodore the Studite, and the victim in 832 of the Iconoclast persecutions; Leo the Phi- losopher, professor at the Magnaura, the master of Photius and of all the literary celebrities of the period; Michael Chumnos, the author of several canonical treatises in the twelfth century; Basil of Achrida, who took part in the theological discussions with the en- voys of the pope or of the Emperor of the West; Eustachius, the celebrated scholiast of Homer; Gre- gory Palamas, the defender of the Hesychast theories and the bitter enemy of the Catholics in the four- teenth century, who is still regarded as one of the greatest doctors of the Schismatic Church; Isidore Glabas; Simeon, liturgist and canonist, d. in 1429, a year before the capture of the city by the Turks.

When Illyricum Orient ale, comprising the two civil Dioceses of Dacia and Macedonia, was ceded by Gra- tian in 379 to the Empire of the East, Pope St. Damasus in order to retain jurisdiction over these dis- tant provinces appointed the Bishop of Thessalonica his vicar Apostolic. In this capacity the bishop pre- sided at the local councils of the various provinces, judging and solving difficulties, save in more serious matters, wherein the decision was reserved to the pope. He also confirmed the election of metropoli- tans and simple bishops and granted authorization to proceed to ordination. Finally, he occupied a privi- leged place at the oecumenical councils and signed their decisions immediately after the patriarchs. He thus enjoyed the prerogatives of a patriarch, even to bearing the title, but was subject to the Patriarch of Rome. The Bishop of Constantinople sought to modify this organization by inducing Theodosius II to pass a law (14 July, 421) which attached all the bishops of lUyria to the Byzantine Church, and by having this law inserted in the Code (439); but the popes protested against this injustice and prevented the application of the law. Until 535 the Vicar Apos- tolic of Thessalonica exercised jurisdiction over aO the provinces of Illyricum Orientale, but subsequent to Novel xi of Justinian the authority was divided be- tween him and the new Archbishop of Justiniana Prima. The latter, likewise appointed vicar Apostolic of the pope, directed the seven provinces of the north while the Bishop of Thessalonica continued to occupy the six others: Macedonia Prima, Thessalia, Achaia, Creta, Nova and Vetus Epirus. Matters remained so until 732 when the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, after his excommunication by the pope, connected all the bishoprics of lUyria with the Patriarchate of Con- stantinople. Thenceforth, despite the protests of Rome, Thessalonica was dependent on the Church of Byzantium.

After the establishment of the Latin Kingdom of Thessalonica in 1205 Nivelo de Ch^risy, Bishop of Soissons, who had taken an active part in the Fourth Crusade, was appointed by Innocent III (10 Decem- ber, 1206) first Latin archbishop of the city. He died in the following year; his successors were at first resi- dential and afterwards titular (see list in Le Quien, "Oriens Christ.", Ill, 1089-96; Eubel, "Hierarchia catholica medii avi", I, 510; II, 275). From a letter of Innocent III written in 1212 we learn that Thessa- lonica had then eleven suffragans. Apart from the saintly bishops mentioned above Thessalonica had other saints: Agape, Irene, and Chionia, martyred under Diocletian; Agothopodus, deacon, and Theo- dulus, rector, martyred under Diocletian; Anysia, martyred under Maximian; Demetrius, martyr, the protector of the city, from whose tomb flowed an oil which worked miracles, and whose superb basilica has been converted into a mosque; David, solitary (sixth century); Theodora, d. in 892; etc. The Vicariate Apostolic of Macedonia, for the Bulgars, whose titular resides at Thessalonica, was estalilislicd in 1883. It has upwai'cls of ()()()() Catholics, 2(1 residential stations, 33 secular priests, most of them married, 10 Lazarist


priests, 21 churches and chapels, 27 primary schools for boys and girls with 1110 pupils. The seminary, directed by the Lazarists, is at ZeitenUk, near Thessa- lonica. The Sisters of Charity and the Bulgarian Eucharistine Sisters also have schools and orphanages.

Le Qdien, Oriens christ., 11, 27-66; T.\fel, De Thessalonica eiusque agro (Berlin, 1839) ; Bellet. Observations sur I histoirc et sur les monuments de la ville de Thessalonigue in Histoire de V Academic des Inscriptions, XXXVIII (Paris). 125 aq. ; Vig- ouRoux. Le Nouveau Testameni et les dicouvertes archeologiques modernes (Paris, 1890), 215-38; Spata, / Siciliani in Salonico nelfanno MCLXXXV (Palermo, 1892); Petit. Les iviques de Thessalonigue in Eckos d'Orient, IV, V, VI, and VIII; Duchesne, L'lllyricum eccUsiastique in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, I, 531-50; VaiLH^, Annexion d' Illyricum au patriarcat trcumenique in Echos d'Orienl, XIV, 29-36; Missiones catholica: (Rome, 1907), 798; Cheyne, Encyclopcedia biblica, a. v.

S. Vailh4. Theveste, titular see of Numidia. The city seems to have had some importance even prior to Christianity. During the first century of our era the Legio III Augusta resided there before being transferred to Larabssis. It was made a colonia probably under Trajan. There is mention of a council held there by the Donatists. Among its saints were St. Lucius, its bishop, who in 256 assisted at the Council of Carthage and died for the Faith two years later; St. Maximihanus, martyred 12 March, 295; St. Crispina, martyred 5 December, 304. Some of its bishops are known: Romulus in 349; LTrbicus in 411; Fehx exiled by the Vandals in 484; Palladius mentioned in an inscription. It was rebuilt by the patrician Solomon at the beginning of the reign of Justinian, and he built a tomb there which still exists. Under the Turks Theveste had a garrison of janizaries. Since 1851 it has been occupied by the French. Under the name of Tebessa it is the capital of a canton of the Department of Constantine in Algeria. It has 7000 inhabitants, of whom about 1200 are Europeans. It has a Catholic parish. Tebessa is very rich in ancient monuments, among them being a triumphal arch of Caracalla, a temple, a Christian basilica of the fourth century 216 feet long by 72 feet wide, near which are buried a number of pious persons.

TouLOTTE, G^og. de I'Afrique chret.: Proconsulaire (Rennea, 1894). 292-99; Diehl in Nomelles archives des missions scientif. (Paris. 1893). 325-32; Ballu. Le monastire byz. de Tebessa (Paris, 1897).

S. Vailh£.

Thibaris, titular see in Byzacena (Africa), not mentioned by any ancient author. The official list of the Roman Curia places it in Byzacena, but in reality it belonged to Africa Proconsularis. An inscription fixes the exact site at the ruins now called Henshir Hamamet, in a plain watered by the Wady Tibar which has retained the name of the town. These ruins are situated about five miles north-east of Djebba, near the Djebel Gorra Tunaiai. There are galena and calamine mines at Djebba. The former were worked even in ancient times and are mentioned in a letter from St. Cyprian to the faithful of Thibaris (Ep. Ivi). The chief ruins are those of an aqueduct and a Christian church. Nearby is the native orphan- age of St. Joseph of Tibar, where the White P'athers re- ceive chiefly Algerian Kabyles. Two bishops of Thi- baris are known; Vincent, present at the Council of Carthage in 256, and Victor, at the Conference of Carthage in 411, where his rival was the Donatist, Victorian.

ToDLOTrE, Giog. de I'Afrique chrH.: Procofisii/a (re (Paris, 1892), 266.

S. PfiTRinfes.

Thibaut de Champagne. — Tliibauf IV, Count of Champagne anil King of \;ivarre, a French poet, b. 1201, at Troves; d. 8 July, 125:3. He was the posthu- mous son of Thibaut III, Count of Champagne and Blois, and Blanche, sister of Sancho VII, King of Na- varre. He had to defend his rights to his coiuitship first in 1221 again.st his uncle, Coiuit of Brienne, and later against his aunt, .\lice, Queen of Cyprus. During the minority of Louis IX, he first sided with. the