church was built in the latter half of the 12th century. Its official name, Notre-Dame-de-
la-Mer, was soon transformed by pilgrims to “Saintes-Maries” or “Trois-Maries.”
The church is simple in plan. It has no transept, and its aisleless nave is covered by a
slightly pointed barrel vault. The choir has a semicircular apse and columns ornamented
with decorative capitals. A scarcity of windows keeps the interior in perpetual shadow.
From the exterior, the church resembles a fortress. A polygonal tower, situated over the
apse, is topped by a gabled belfry. A room inside the tower once housed arms for the
defense of the church. In the 15th century, it became a high chapel dedicated to St.
Michael.
In 1448, King René d’Anjou sponsored excavations that led to the “discovery” of what
he claimed were the relics of Mary Cleophas, Mary Salome, and Sarah. In addition, he
sponsored the construction of a new crypt and extended the church by two bays
(constructed in the same style as the rest of the church). In this period, and still today,
Saintes-Maries was an important pilgrimage church for gypsies.
Nina Rowe
[See also: RENÉ D’ANJOU]
Aubert, Marcel. L’art roman en France. Paris: Flammarion, 1961, pp.xi, 401, 416–17.
Benoît, Fernand. “Église des Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.” Bulletin monumental 95(1936):145–80.
Chaillan, Marius. Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Aix: Dragon; Marseille: Tacussel, 1926.
SAINTS, CULT OF
. The veneration of those people deemed to be saints lay at the heart of the practice of
lateantique and medieval Christianity. Saints were “holy people” (sancti, -ae) who had
lived a life of heroic virtue and had posthumously been judged by God to be worthy of
entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven. In theory, all who resided in the divine court were
saints, but in practice Christian churches accorded a relatively small number of people the
title of saint and public veneration. The first Christians to be so honored were martyrs,
who had died for giving witness to the faith during the Roman persecutions. With the
official acceptance of Christianity, ascetics—and, still later, bishops, teachers, and
others—came to be considered saints under the rubrics of “confessor” and “doctor,” that
is, those who preached or were learned in the faith.
A person could not become a saint in isolation: he or she had first to be accepted as an
embodiment of holiness by a community of Christians and then recognized by
ecclesiastical authority. During the Middle Ages, there was no single canon of saints
universally observed in western Christendom. Indeed, the canon differed widely from
region to region and even from period to period, although many feasts (such as that of the
Apostle Peter or of the first martyr, Stephen) were standard. Following traditions
established in Roman North Africa, bishops were charged with control of the canon of
saints to be venerated and liturgically celebrated in their diocese, but from the 12th
century on the papacy exerted ever more control over the processes of canonization.
The public honor, or cultus, accorded saints took many forms. One pervasive mode
was liturgical. The memory of those admitted to the canon of saints was celebrated on a
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