Negrine is a town and commune in Tébessa Province in north-eastern Algeria.[1] It was the site of ancient Casae Nigrae, a settlement of Roman North Africa with an attached bishopric that remains a Latin Catholic titular see.

Casae Nigrae
Negrine
نقرين
Casae Nigrae
Commune and town
The Old Town Of Negrine Tébessa.
The Old Town Of Negrine Tébessa.
Country Algeria
ProvinceTébessa
Government
Area
 • Total
619 sq mi (1,604 km2)
Elevation
1,024 ft (312 m)
Population
 (2008)
 • Total
9,445
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)

Geography

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Negrine area

Negrine is located in the Negrine District of the sahara of Tébessa Province, NE Algeria. It is north of the Chott el Ghasa, near the borders of Tunisian border and has an elevation of 321 meters (1,053 ft) above sea level.[2]

The village population was 9445 inhabitants in 2008. The landscape is generally arid and the topography is generally flat, interspersed with long low mesas transecting the countryside.

Average annual rainfall is between 5 and 20 millimetres (0.20 and 0.79 in) with the winter being the main wet season. Average temperatures range from 7 °C (45 °F) in winter to 40 °C (104 °F) in July.[3]

History

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During prehistoric times Negrine was within the Capsian cultural area, which lasted from c. 8500 BC to 5400 BC.[4] Snail shells and piles of ash which include mixed tools and kitchen refuse are some of the defining cultural elements of the Capsian culture, as well as engraved ostrich eggs.[5][6][7]

Negrine was known as Casae Nigrae during the time of the Roman, Byzantine and Vandal empires (30 BC – AD 640). It was located in the province of Numidia, North Africa. Casae Nigrae was also known as Nigrenses Maiores during this period.[8] There are extensive Roman ruins in the desert between Negrine and Tebessa, Algeria.[9]

The area was incorporated into the Maghreb in the 7th century and today the area is home to the Nemencha, a tribe of Berber extraction.[10][11][12]

Ecclesiastical history

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The town was the seat of one of many suffragan bishoprics in Numidia during Roman and Vandal times. It was the birthplace of Donatus Magnus, the founder and namesake of the Donatist Church, and the Donatist movement was influential in the town. Christian influence, however, effectively ended after the Muslim conquest of the 640s AD.[13]

Known residential bishops include :

  • Donatus the Great (fl. 311–312), founder of the schismatic heretical Donatist movement[14][15][16][17]
  • Ianvarianus (fl. 394–411), a Donatist bishop[18][19]
  • Felix (fl. 484), a Catholic bishop[20]

Titular see

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In 1933 the diocese was nominally restored as a Latin Titular bishopric in the Roman Catholic Church, named Casæ nigræ (Latin) / Case nere (Curiate Italian).

It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank:[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Communes of Algeria". Statoids. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  2. ^ Elevation of Negrine,Algeria Elevation Map, Topo, Contour .
  3. ^ Negrine Monthly Climate Average, Algeria.
  4. ^ G. Camps, « Escargotières », dans Encyclopédie berbère, Aix-en-Provence, Edisud, 1997 (lire en ligne), pp. 2683–2691.
  5. ^ Simone Mulazzani (dir.), « Le Capsien de Hergla (Tunisie). Culture, Environment et économie ». Reports in African Archaeology 4. Frankfurt M., 2013, Africa Magna Verlag.
  6. ^ J. de Morgan, Dr Capitan et P. Baudry, « Étude sur les stations préhistoriques du Sud Tunisien », Revue mensuelle de l'École d'anthropologie de Paris, vol. 10, 1910, pp. 105–136 p105.
  7. ^ E. Gobert, « Recherches sur le Capsien (lre série) », Bulletin de la Société préhistorique de France, vol. 7, no 11, 1910, pp. 595–604.
  8. ^ Fentress, E., R. Warner, R. Talbert, T. Elliott, S. Gillies. "Places: 334514 (Casae Nigrae)". Pleiades. <http://pleiades.stoa.org/places/334514> [Accessed: February 19, 2016]
  9. ^ "Roman ruins in the desert between Negrine and Tebessa, Algeria. Roman..." Getty Images. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  10. ^ Paul Gaffarel, Algérie: histoire, conquête et colonisation, (SERRE EDITEUR, 2004).
  11. ^ Ernest Carette, Exploration scientifique de l'Algérie. 3, Recherches sur l'origine et les migrations des principales tribus de l'Afrique septentrionale et particulièrement de l'Algérie / par E. Carette,..., Imprimerie Impériale (Paris), 1er janvier 1853.
  12. ^ Camps et A. Martel, Fraichich, Éditions Peeters, 1er février 1998, lire en ligne, pp. 2930–2933.
  13. ^ David M. Cheney Casae Nigrae at catholic-hierarchy.org.
  14. ^ Henri Irénée Marrou, André Mandouze, Anne-Marie La Bonnardière, Prosopographie de l'Afrique chrétienne (303–533) p295.
  15. ^ Wace, Henry, Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature (Delmarva Publications, Inc., 1911)
  16. ^ Charles Joseph Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church: from the Original Documents, to the close of the Second Council of Nicaea A.D. 787 (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1 Feb. 2007 ) p179.
  17. ^ Claude Fleury, John Henry Newman, The Ecclesiastical History of M. L'abbé Fleury: From the Second Ecumenical Council to the End of the Fourth Century (John Henry Parker, 1842) p250.
  18. ^ Henri Irénée Marrou, André Mandouze, Anne-Marie La Bonnardière, Prosopographie de l'Afrique chrétienne (303–533) p. 579.
  19. ^ Saint Augustine, Letters, Volume 2 (83–130) (The Fathers of the Church, Volume 18) letter 88.
  20. ^ Henri Irénée Marrou, André Mandouze, Anne-Marie La Bonnardière, Prosopographie de l'Afrique chrétienne (303–533) p 435.
  21. ^ http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/ndol0.htm#11465 GCatholic
  22. ^ Revue des Ordinations Épiscopales, Issue 1949, Number 9
  23. ^ Le Petit Episcopologe, Issue 205, Number 16,953
  24. ^ Bollettino, 22 Dec 2010
  25. ^ Le Petit Episcopologe, Issue 215, Number 17,868.
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34°29′N 7°31′E / 34.483°N 7.517°E / 34.483; 7.517