Arles Saint-Trophime

Arles was a great Roman city and one of the first bishoprics of Gaul; a council of the Church met there in 314. Its former cathedral, now a basilica, is dedicated to Saint Trophimus, by tradition its first bishop, and its west portal, carved in the late twelfth century, shows the Last Judgment on a front modeled on a Roman triumphal arch.

Its cloister has Romanesque galleries on two sides and Gothic ones on the others. Arles is the starting point of the southern road to Compostela, through Saint-Gilles and Toulouse, and the Alyscamps, its old Christian cemetery, recall the burials of the first centuries.

Further reading: Avignon: A Pilgrim’s Guide to the City of the Popes; Mary Magdalene in Provence: The Tradition and the Shrines.

• The portal of Saint-TrophimeThe Last Judgment and the apostles.
• The cloisterRomanesque and Gothic galleries around a garden.
• The AlyscampsThe avenue of tombs of the old Christian cemetery.

• January 16, in FranceFeast of Saint Honoratus
• August 26, in France; August 27 in the Roman MartyrologyFeast of Saint Caesarius of Arles

• Saint HonoratusFounder of Lérins and bishop of Arles
• Saint Caesarius of ArlesMonk of Lérins and bishop of Arles

• Via MagdalenaeThe Magdalene Way, seven daysDay II, Arles

About twenty minutes by train from Avignon.

• Saintes-Maries-de-la-MerThe Church of the Saintes-Maries, about 19 miles as the crow flies
• AvignonThe Palace of the Popes and Notre-Dame-des-Doms, about 21 miles as the crow flies
• SénanqueThe Abbey of Notre-Dame de Sénanque, about 33 miles as the crow flies
• La Sainte-BaumeThe Grotto of Saint Mary Magdalene, about 61 miles as the crow flies