NICOPOLIS. - Latin bishopric in Bulgaria, with residence at Rustciuk (Ruse) on the Danube. It is directly subject to the Holy See. Appellate ordinary: Bucharest (Jan. 15, 1920).

The city that gave its name to this bishopric was founded by Trajan and depended first on the province of Thrace, then, after Septimius Severus, on Lower Moesia. It was located on the Rositza River, a tributary of the Iantra, 80 km from Rustciuk. The bishopric was erected in the 5th century; the names of the bishops Marcellus (458) and Amantius (518) are known. Damaged by the Goths, the city was rebuilt by Justinian, but following further invasions it declined once more and nothing more was heard of the bishopric.

The diocese of N. was definitively re-established in 1648 for the Paulicians who had passed over to Catholicism a few decades earlier, but its residence was subsequently transferred to Bucharest and later to Rustciuk. Within its territory (43,241 sq km) there are 21 churches and 19 parishes, with 24 priests and 21,892 faithful out of 2,861,326 inhabitants.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: J. Bogève, L'evèché de N. en Bulgarie, in Echos d'Orient 18 (1916-19), pp. 160-65; Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 288. Petre Välimäraanu

@incollection{ec8_nicopoli, author = {Vălimăreanu, Petre}, title = {Nicopoli}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {1864--1865}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/nicopoli} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

Nicopolis

About this entry