Trophimus of Arles

Holy Hierarch Trophimus of Arles is honoured as the first bishop of Arles in southern France, around 280. According to an old tradition, in the time of the emperor Decius, around 251, Pope Fabian sent seven bishops from Rome to preach in Gaul; Trophimus went to Arles, the others to Tours, Narbonne, Toulouse, Paris, Clermont and Limoges. Gregory of Tours mentions his arrival in Gaul at that time.

From the fifth century local tradition identified him with Trophimus, the companion of the holy Apostle Paul in the Acts of the Apostles; the identification does not rest on sure sources. The church of Saint-⁠Trophime in Arles, built from the twelfth century over a third-⁠century crypt, keeps his memory. He is remembered on 29 December in the Western calendar (new style).