Aeliae

Aeliae or Æliæ was a Roman-era city in the province of Byzacena.^[1]

Africa Proconsularis

The town must have been of some importance as it was made a bishopric early after the Council of Nicaea and it was a Catholic diocese throughout antiquity.

Its exact location is tentatively given as ruins near Henchir-Mraba^[2][3] southeast of Ouled Chamekh, between lake Sebkhet Cherita and Sebkhet de Sidi El Hani in the central part of what is today Mahdia Governorate, Tunisia.^[4]

Aeliae was also the seat of an ancient Christian bishopric. There are three bishops documented as residing in Aeliae during antiquity.^[5][6]

• The Catholic Fascinullo intervened at the Conference of Carthage of 411, between Catholic and Donatist bishops of Roman North Africa
• The Bishop Donaziano participated in the synod assembled in Carthage in 484 by the arian King Huneric the Vandal, after which Donaziano was exiled.
• Bishop Constantine took part in the anti-monotheistic Council of Carthage (641).

Since 1933 Aeliae has been a titular bishopric. Since 2019 the title has been held by Ricardo Augusto Rodríguez Álvarez, Auxiliary Bishop of Lima, Peru.^[7]