TROPHIMUS, Protovescovo of ARLES, saint. — Died before 251–52, the period in which his successor Marcianus accepted the schism of Novatianus, as is evident from the letter written by St. Cyprian to Pope Stephen in 254 (PL 3, 1023–32). He is 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 bibliography, pp. 72–75). Feast day: December 29.
Nothing is known of his life, and the legend of the apostolicity of his mission was spread for interested purposes in the 5th century, when the question of the primacy of Arles was being agitated. The chief promoter of this legend was Bishop Patroclus, a man without scruples and unfortunately well received by Pope Zosimus. The latter, in two letters of 477 (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 328, 332), evidently drawn up on information supplied by Patroclus himself, affirmed, without any
(from G. Gromort, *L'architecture romaine*, I, Paris 1923, tav. 1)
TROPHIMUS, protovescovo of ARLES, saint — Facade of the church of St. T. (12th century) — Arles.
and fortified the settlement in 1019 to make it a stronghold on the border of Apulia against the aggressive Lombard Duchy of Benevento. Emperor St. Henry II (v.), in his anti-Byzantine campaign after several months of siege, accepted its surrender (1022), and among the terms of the capitulation imposed the change of the city from the Greek to the Latin rite, thus removing it from Eastern influence. At the same time, the Pope erected it into a diocese immediately subject to the Holy See (1031; confirmatory bulls of Paschal II in 1100 and of Adrian IV in 1156). The inefficiency of Byzantine rule meant that political direction of the city was in fact in the hands of the bishop, assisted by the *noviliores homines*, in that characteristic form of organization widespread in Apulia in the early Middle Ages (F. Carabellese [V. bibliography]), which was the only vital organization of those populations during the chaotic Byzantine period and the period of Norman penetration. T., under the energetic leadership of its bishops, stubbornly resisted the ferocity of these new conquerors (Bishop Angelo died on May 4, 1041, fighting on the Ofanto) until they made peace with the Pope, from whom Robert Guiscard obtained in 1054 the investiture of the Duchy of Apulia. Then T. accepted his lordship and became a Norman center in northern Apulia, embarking on a period of great prosperity and splendor. In 1093 Urban II held a council there, and in the same year work began on the new cathedral. In 1105, in an enterprise that seems to have imitated that of Bari in the theft of the relics of St. Nicholas, the relics of Sts. Eleutherius, Pontianus, and Anastasius were translated from Tivoli to T. Other councils were held in T. by Paschal II (in 1114 and 1116) and Callistus II (in 1120): in the latter the Norman barons swore the Truce of God (document in the Chapter Archive, bundle 4, letter A).
When the line of Robert Guiscard died out in 1127, T. opposed the ambitions of Roger of Sicily on the mainland, reasserting its own freedom under the leadership of Bishop William II (inscription on the smaller bronze door of the cathedral), engaging in an epic struggle that ended only in 1139. Having made peace with the new Kingdom of Sicily, the bishopric of T. increased still further in political importance, to the point that its bishop, Walter II, became first an esteemed advisor to King William II and then Grand Chancellor to Henry VI and Frederick II during his minority. During his episcopate, Clement III granted (1189) to the see of T. the privilege of the pallium. At the time of the uprising of the Apulian cities against Frederick II, T., already wounded in its pride by the exclusion of its bishops from the court of the Swabian, attempted to restore its ancient freedom even against him: but Frederick captured it (1229) and razed it to the ground. The city recovered only after the definitive fall of the Swabians (1266–68), without, however, regaining its former importance. A personal possession of Joanna I of Anjou, then a county fief of Peter of Ivrea and Muzio Attendolo Sforza, it received from Charles V the title and privileges of a city and financial concessions that gave it considerable splendor during the Spanish domination. The diocese declined toward the mid-1600s because of famines and plagues; it revived toward the end of that century through the work of distinguished bishops. In 1854, Pius IX, in view of the growing importance of the city of Foggia, detached it from the diocese of T. and erected it into a diocese *sui iuris*. Since 1925 the two dioceses, preserving their distinct jurisdictions, have been united *ad personam*.
Very probably the cathedral of T. incorporated into its structure a pre-existing *ecclesia Sanctae Mariae* (c. 1080), identifiable in the present apse arm (except for the lions’ window), an imposing example of a singular, austere, and powerful art. The structure is harmonious in the rhythm of blind arches that mark its first level (1093 and c. 1105–20), but it bursts forth in a supremely original accent in the upper part of the facade, where the usual rose window passes from a merely decorative function to an essential and predominant architectural role. Apulian sculpture has marked in the cathedral of T. every phase of its development, from the archaic capitals of the apse and the timid cornices of the right side (c. 1093) to the powerful sculpture of the capitals of the nave (first two decades of the 12th century) and the lions and small figures of the facade and the rose window, to the refinements of the bas-reliefs of the pulpit (dated 1169), the panels of the left side, and the marvelous tracery of the rose window grilles, up to the perfection of the rampant lions of the apse window (last decade of the 12th century). Here the masters of Foggia received their training, whose descendants, about a century later, in the person of Bartolomeo da Foggia (bust of Sikelgaita in the cathedral of Ravello), would anticipate the Renaissance. It seems that originally the transept did not project beyond the sides of the naves: it is probable that toward the end of the 1100s, when, in the period of the greatest splendor of the *episcopium Troianum*, the vaults of the transept and choir were created, a wing (the left one) was also built extending the transept, which in 1738 was transformed into a Baroque chapel. The right wing dates to 1762, when it was built by Bishop De Simone as a symmetrical chapel to the aforementioned one and dedicated to the Assumption.
Poorly accumulated superstructures from the centuries were removed in a general restoration by the architect Travaglini (under the direction of Bishop T. Passero, in 1856–58): but, according to the criteria of the time, the interior was decorated with stuccoes and paintings that give it a smooth and adorned appearance in contrast to its original rugged elegance. A rational restoration was begun with the restoration of the visible truss roofs (1949). Of the two bronze doors (works of Oderisio da Benevento, respectively of 1119 and 1127), the larger is notable for its imposing size, and the second, because in its most elegant moldings (v.) and in its inscription recalls the culminating episode of Troian freedom.
Numerous parchments and some manuscripts preserved in the Chapter Archive contain important documents on the history of the diocese and of Apulia. Particularly worthy of note in the Treasury are the three *Exultets* (v. *ROTOLO LITURGICO*), richly illuminated (beginning and end