TROFIMO, Proto-bishop of ARLES, saint. — He died before 251–52, the period when his successor Marciano accepted the schism of Novatian, as can be seen from the letter written by St. Cyprian to Pope Stefano in 254 (PL 3, 1023–32). He was one of the seven missionary bishops sent from Rome to Gaul, mentioned by St. Gregory of Tours (cf. Historia Francorum, I, 30: ed. W. Arndt - B. Krusch, in MGH, Script. rer. Merov., I, p. 48; E. Griffe, La Gaule, cited in the bibliography, pp. 72–75). Feast: 29 December.
Nothing is known of his life, and the legend of the apostolic origin of his mission was disseminated for ulterior motives in the fifth century, when the question of the primacy of Arles was being debated. Its principal promoter was Bishop Patroclo, an unscrupulous man and, unfortunately, a person well regarded by Pope Zosimo. In two letters of 417 (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 328, 332), evidently composed on the basis of information supplied by Patroclo himself, he asserted, without any chronological specification, that T. was the first missionary bishop of Gaul sent by the Apostolic See, «ex cuius fonte totse Gallia fidei rivulos acceperunt» (no. 328). Relying on this inaccurate assertion, the bishops of the Arelatensian province stated in a letter of 450 to St. Leone Magno that T. had been sent to Arles by St. Peter (PL 54, 879). Cesario of Arles, for his part, made T. a disciple of the Apostles and assigned him three companions, Paolo of Narbona, Saturnino of Tolosa, and Dafno of Vaison (cf. Libellus de mysterio sanctae Trinitatis, 17: ed. G. Morin, II, Maredsous 1942, p. 179). Finally, in the ninth century Adone identified T. with the homonymous disciple of St. Paul, «ab apostolis Romae ordinatus episcopus» of Arles (cf. Libellus de festivitatibus Apostolorum, cited by H. Quentin, Les martyrologes historiques du moyen âge, Paris 1908, p. 603). T. has also been made one of the 72 disciples of Our Lord (BHL. 8319). The attempt to identify T. with Serapione of Alexandria does not merit consideration.