Shaping Identity through Liturgy at the Cathedral of Saint-Trophime, Arles in the Mid-Fourteenth Century

Throughout the Middle Ages, the clerics at the cathedral of Saint-Trophime in Arles vigorously engaged in shaping the identity of their community. The liturgy—including music, texts, and ritual actions—was a primary means of fashioning this collective identity. The Divine Office celebrated for the patron saint of the cathedral, the founder bishop St. Trophime, reveals this process of clerical self-fashioning. In the mid-fourteenth century, the clerics chose to use a version of Trophime’s vita that identified him (spuriously) as a disciple of Jesus and emphasized his role as founder of the church in Arles, including convincing a government official to donate his palace to be used as a church and then converting him to Christianity. The clerics embellished the liturgy with additional plainchant, and they further enhanced the ritual with a new silver reliquary to house Trophime’s relics. Moreover, sculptures in the cathedral cloister that were also created during this period depict Trophime performing miracles that include Jesus and Charlemagne. The clerics thereby reinforced their claims for Trophime’s apostolicity and his influence over secular rulers as well as further demonstrating the wealth and status of their church. Through text, music, and image, they enacted the identity they were creating: a community rich in material and spiritual treasure within an apostolic legacy that privileged ecclesiastical influence over secular authority. Saint-Trophime thus illustrates the critical role of the liturgy within the multifaceted process of identity formation for communities of cathedral clerics in the Middle Ages.