SÉTIF. - It is Sitifis, a Roman colony of veterans founded by Nerva in Mauretania (Algeria), called "Colonia Nerviana Augusta Martiaris veteranorum Sitifensium."
At the end of the 3rd century it became the capital of Mauretania Sitifensis (CIL, VIII, 8475-76). It suffered a violent earthquake in the time of St. Augustine. The first record of bishops of S. is found in a letter of St. Augustine from the year 409, where the bishop Severus is named (Ep., 111); Novatus was at the Council of 419; he is mentioned in letters 185 and 229 of St. Augustine; he died in 440, as is attested by his epitaph (CIL, VIII, 8634; P. Monceaux, Enquête sur l'épigraphie chrétienne d'Afrique, Paris 1907, p. 134, n. 201). Lawrence was probably the bishop who on 3 Aug. 452 dedicated a memorial to the Roman martyr of the same name (CIL, VIII, 8630) "in hoc loco sancto depositae sunt." Donatus was bishop in 484; Optatus was bishop from 525; Cresciturus is of the 5th or 6th century; it was still an episcopal see at the beginning of the 8th century (H. Gelzer, Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 2 [1893], p. 26); today S. is only a titular see. In S. were found the remains of a church with a baptistery; to the northwest of the city was discovered the dedication of an oratory in honor of the martyrs Justus and Decurius "qui bene confessi vicerunt arma maligna, praemia victores Cristi meruere coronam" (G. B. De Rossi, Scoperta di insigni storiche epigrafi di Milevi [Mileto], di Sitifi [S.], ecc., in Bull. arch. crist., 2nd series, 6 [1875], p. 171; 3rd series, 1 [1876], pl. 3; CIL, VIII, 8631). On a brick was found engraved the following epigraph: "Hic m(e)m(oriae) a(an)c(t)or(um) Stefani (et) Iuliani pos(itae) su(n)t XII K(a)l(endas) apr(i)l(es) N(abori) e S(an)c(t) Stefani" (CIL, VIII, 8632). Other Christian sanctuaries were to the north of the city of S.; mosaic inscriptions were found there (ibid., 8629, 20409; S. Gsell, Monuments de l'Algérie, II, Paris 1901, p. 256). In 409 S. had a monastery of religious women and an episcopal school (St. Augustine, Ep., 84, 1). Among the Christian inscriptions discovered, mention is made of a fragment of the epitaph of a presbyter (CIL, VIII, 20411). The epitaph from the year 384 of a funerary chapel made by a certain "Flavius Eustasius" and his wife "Iulia Crescentina" has the formula "in nomine Dei et Cristi eius" (ibid., 20412). Some Christian inscriptions are inspired by the psalms (ibid., 8621-25); in one the feast of Christmas is recalled: "Natale Domini Cristi VIII. Kal. Ianuaras" (ibid., 8628; P. Monceaux, Enquête sur l'épigraphie chrétienne d'Afrique, Paris 1907, p. 126, n. 307).
A group of five "transmarini" were buried at S., three in the year 405 (CIL, VIII, 8638, 8639, 8642) and two in 435 (ibid., 20414). At S., in a mosaic medallion, was read: "Flavius Innocentius num(mularius) [or num(erarius)] pro salute sua suorumque omnium tessel(l)avit" (ibid., 8629). A Greek inscription recalls a Vandal named Friderix (ibid., 8653). At S. there was also a synagogue, because there was found the inscription of a "Pater Synagogae" (ibid., 8423, 8499). In the region of S. was found a reliquary in white marble, which presents on the front face in relief the monogram A. H. inscribed in a disc, surrounded on the right and left by a tree and a palm; on the sides, on one side a vine branch and on the other a monogrammatic cross in a circle; on the lid two confronted doves with the olive branch; the rest is divided into four compartments by five engraved small columns; the inscription reads at the top: "Memoria s(an)c(t)orum Martyrum" and at the bottom: "Vincenti et Centumarborensium." The locality is known from another epigraph also found at S. which says: "nomina martyrum qui ad centumarbores XXXVI confessus est Iustus." The topographical indication also occurs in the Passio Mammarii (BHL, 5205-5206; P. Monceaux, Inscription chrétienne relative à des martyrs découverte à S., in Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des Inscr., 1917, pp. 185-88; P. Massiera, Un coffret à reliques de la region de S., in Premier Congrès de la Fédération des sociétés savantes de l'Afrique du Nord, Algiers 1935, pp. 65-71; H. Delehaye, Contributions récentes à l'hagiographie de Rome et d'Afrique, in Anal. Boll., 54 [1936], pp. 303-309).
Still in Mauretania Sitifensis, two deacons, Primus and Donatus, were killed by the Donatists (Optatus, De schismate Donatistarum, II, 18). To the southwest of S., at Ain-Melloul, an inscription recalls the "me(n)sa martyrum Donatus, Felix, Novici, Baric, qui passi sunt Guruzis" (P. Monceaux, Enquête, cit., nn. 311, 254). At Kesseria a mosaic inscription of a "clarissima femina Cypriana" is from the year 454 (P. Gauckler, in Bull. archéol. du Comité, 1892, pp. 124-25).
At 10 km. south of S., in the locality of Mesloug, there was discovered in 1856, beneath an ancient altar, a deposit of relics covered by a stone with the inscription: "Hic m(e)m(oriae) sanctoru(m) Bincenti, Felicis, Cortanti et Victorie posite a sanctu Crescituru episcu(po) die III Kl aprilis amen." Vincent, Felix and Victoria are the martyrs of Abitina put to death at Carthage on 12 Feb. 304 (S. Gsell, in Bulletin archéol. du Comité, 1899, p. 454, n. 6).
At 50 km. southeast of S., in the locality of Henchir-el-Ateuch, a basilica with three naves has been known since 1893 (M. Simon, Fouilles dans la basilique d'Henchir-el-Ateuch, in Mélanges d'arch. et d'hist., 51 [1934], pp. 143-77). At Guellal (the ancient Castellum Dianense) was found the inscription "me(n)sa Migini subdiaconi die III idus iunias" (E. Albertini, Inscriptions romaines d'Algérie, in Bulletin archéol. du Comité, 1925, p. 172, n. 3).