Our Lady of Carthage: Marian Invocation of the Former Church of Africa

Carthage, Tunisia

The advocation of Our Lady of Carthage regains the memory of the Marian devotion that flourished in the Church of North Africa from the second century until the Arab conquest, and which today is still alive in the small Tunisian Catholic community.

Marian devotion in the ancient Carthage

The Church of Carthage, second in importance after Rome in the West, developed its own mariology that influenced all Latin Christianity. The African Fathers - Tertulian, Cipriano, Augustine - defended Mary's divine motherhood and her perpetual virginity. The basilicas of the Byzantine Carthage included Marian dedications, and the mosaics found in the archaeological sites show scenes of Mary's life.

The French restoration

With the arrival of the French protectorate (1881), Marian devotion in Carthage was reborn. The construction of Catedral de San Luis (1890) and other churches in the area brought back the Catholic presence. The White Fathers, a missionary congregation founded in Algeria, established in Cartago a centre of Marian spirituality.

Our Lady of Carthage today

The invocation is maintained through:

• The liturgical celebrations of the Archdiocese of Tunisia.
• The ecumenical pilgrimages to the deposits of the Christian Carthage.
• The memory of the Fathers of the African Church in the liturgical calendar.
• The agreements between Tunisia and the Holy See that allow Catholic practice.

Carthage as a place of dialogue

The Christian Carthage is today a space for interreligious dialogue. The Tunisian government has protected Christian archaeological sites and facilitated meetings between Christians and Muslims. Marian devotion, shared to some extent by Islamic tradition (Maryam), is a natural bridge of understanding.

Prayer to Our Lady of Carthage

Oh, Mary, Mother of the Church of Africa, who from the first centuries were venerated in the basilicas of Carthage, intercede over the land where Tertulian proclaimed your virginity and Augustine sang your motherhood. May Carthage, the cradle of Western theology, be home to Marian prayer again. May the Christians of Tunisia persevere in faith and may Mary be light for all the people of the Maghreb. Amen.