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Glite Dictionary
📜 A legal claim 📝 A heading 🏛️ An inscription ⛪ A church
titulus

titulus

9.9
An early Christian church in Rome named after a saint or founder
  • noun
  • /ˈtɪtələs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : iglesia titular
  • The ancient titulus was dedicated to Saint Cecilia and became a center for early Christians.

Examples

  • Pilgrims often visited a titulus to honor the memory of its founding saint.

  • Historians studied the records of each titulus to trace the development of the Roman church.

  • The titulus of St. Peter's Basilica is well-known.

  • Many ancient tituli have been discovered in Rome.

  • The ancient titulus was dedicated to Saint Cecilia and became a center for early Christians.

  • Many pilgrims traveled to visit the historic titulus that commemorated their favorite saint.

  • Scholars have cataloged the significance of each titulus within the early Christian community.

Synonyms

parish
vstitulus
138 4.1

A local church community, usually Christian, and the area it serves

refers specifically to an early Roman church often named for its founder or saint

Surface Forms

titulus singular
tituli plural

Etymology

Titulus is a Latin word meaning 'title' or 'name', the same root as English title. In early Rome, small churches were called a titulus because they were known by the name of their founder or a saint, so the word came to mean a named parish church.