Abstract In the Image of Elijah: The Artistic Foundations of Community in a Medieval Italian Monastery Alison Locke Perchuk 2009 The twelfth-century Basilica at Castel Sant’Elia (VT), Lazio, is an important example of Romanesque art in the vicinity of Rome, Italy. Built and decorated circa 1126 to meet the needs of a male monastic community living under the Benedictine Rule, the church largely retains its original architecture. It also preserves large segments of the wall paintings that once covered its transept and apse; the earliest extant Cosmati pavement, altar, and ciborium in northern Lazio; and numerous relief carvings and inscriptions, including several from the early medieval era. The richness of the Basilica’s material remains is paralleled by an almost complete loss of its textual apparatus. Scholarship has focused on the style and dating of its architecture, pavement, and frescoes, and on the iconographic affiliations of a rare narrative cycle of the Apocalypse. This dissertation takes a different approach. Inspired by recent work addressing the role of the arts in the generation and communication of medieval institutional identity, it asks how the monks responsible for the Basilica’s construction used its fabric to create, preserve, and promote the antiquity, history, and current social position of their monastic community. Liturgy, including chant, is seen as crucial to this process; the intersection of art and liturgy remains a theme throughout this study. Chapter one analyzes medieval and modern documents and examines the standing structure to isolate authentically