A titular see of Lower Egypt, on the right bank of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, near the modern Zagâzig, where its ruins are shown under the name of Tell Bastah. Its true name was Bast owing to the name of the local goddess Bastet; it became in Old Egyptian Per-bastet (Coptic Boubasti , Hebrew Pi-beseth , Greek Boubastis or more commonly Boubastos , i.e. House of Bastet). It was a place of importance under the twenty-third dynasty about 950-750 B.C. When the eastern part of Lower Egypt was divided into Augustamnica Prima in the north and Augustamnica Secunda in the south, Bubastis was included in the latter, whose capital was Leontopolis (Hierocles, Synecdemos, 728, 4), as the chief town of the Bubastites nomos and like every Egyptian nomos was the seat of a bishopric. Its bishop, Harpocration, was mentioned at Nicaea by Meletius among his well-wishers (Athan. Apol.c. Arianos, 71). About 340 the see was occupied by Hermon (Acta SS., May, III, 61). Julianus was present at the Latrocinium of Ephesus, 449. The see is mentioned in Georgius Cyprius (ed. Gelzer, 705). In the Middle Ages its fate is blended with that of Khandek, a Jacobite see near Cairo, to which it had been united. Thus in 1078 Gabriel, ep. Basta, quoe et Khandek , interfered in the election of the Patriarch Cyrillus ( Renaudot, Hist. patriarch Alexandr. 450, 458, 465), and in 1102 John took a share in the consecration of the Patriarch Macarius II (ibid., 482). Under the Patriarch Cyrillus III (1235-43), the see is often mentioned, but without the name of its titular.
The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed between 1907 and 1912 in fifteen hard copy volumes.
Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.
No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.
Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912
Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online