Saint Hilary of Poitiers

Doctor of the Church (301-368)

Feast – January 14

Saint Hilary was a native of Poitiers, France. Belonging to a noble pagan family he received a good pagan education which included a high level of Greek. He abandoned his Neo-Platonism for Christianity when he met his God of nature in the Old and New Testament writings. He renounced idolatry and was baptized with his wife and his daughter (Saint Abra) and separated himself rigidly from all non-Catholic company, fearing the influence of error, rampant in a number of false philosophies and heresies, for himself and his family in this very troubled period in the Church. He entered Holy Orders with the consent of his very virtuous wife and separated from his family as was required of the clergy. Later he wrote a very famous letter to his dearly loved daughter, encouraging her to adopt a consecrated life. She followed this counsel and died, still young, a holy death.

His wide learning and zeal for the Faith attracted the attention of Christians in Poitiers and about 353 they unanimously elected him, against his will, to be the bishop of Poitiers.

The Church was then greatly disturbed by internal discords, the authority of the popes not being so powerful in practice as either to prevent or to stop them.

Arianism, under the protection of the Emperor Constantius II, was then at the heights of its exaltation and threatened to overrun the Western Church. The heresy spread rapidly. Saint Jerome said, “The world groaned and marveled to find that it was Arian.” St. Hilary undertook to repel this disruption. One of his first steps was to secure the excommunication, by those of the Gallican hierarchy who still remained orthodox Christians, of Saturninus, the Arian Bishop of Arles, and two of his prominent supporters, Ursacius of Singidunum and Valens of Mursa. About the same time, St. Hilary wrote to Emperor Constantius II a remonstrance against the persecutions by which the Arians had sought to crush their opponents (Ad Constantium Augustum liber primus).

Saturninus, being exposed by St. Hilary, convened and presided over a council at Béziers in 356 with the intention of justifying himself, and establishing his false doctrine. Here the Bishop of Poitiers courageously presented himself to defend orthodoxy, but the council, composed for the most part of Arians, refused to hear him. When Emperor Constantius II ordered all the bishops of the West to sign a condemnation of St. Athanasius, the great defender of the faith in the East, St. Hilary refused and was, along with Rhodanus of Toulouse, banished from France to far off Phrygia and gained the nick-name of the “Athanasius of the West.”

St. Hilary was a firm guardian of the Trinity as taught by the Western church, and therefore saw the foreseen Antichrist in those who repudiated the divinity of the Son and thought Him to be but a created Being. He spent more than three years in exile. Instead of remaining inactive he gave himself up to study, completed several of his works and wrote his treatise on the synods. In this work he analyzed the professions of faith uttered by the Oriental bishops in the Councils of Ancyra, Antioch, and Sirmium, and while condemning them, since they were in substance Arian, he sought to show that sometimes the difference between the doctrines of certain heretics and orthodox beliefs was rather in the words than in the ideas. Although some members of his own party thought the first had shown too great a forbearance towards the Arians, St. Hilary replied to their criticisms in the Apologetica ad reprehensores libri de synodis responsa.

“Hence also they who deny that Christ is the Son of God must have Antichrist for their Christ.”

In 359, the city of Seleucia witnessed the Council in which a large number of Oriental bishops, majority of whom were either Anomoeans (extreme division of Arians) or Semi-Arians and some Catholics, contended for mastery. St. Hilary, whom everyone wished to see and hear, for so great was his reputation for learning and virtue, was invited to be present at this assembly. The governor of the province even furnished him with post horses for the journey. He took part in the violent discussions which took place between the Semi-Arians, who inclined toward reconciliation with the Catholics, and the Anomoeans.

After the council, which had no result beyond the wider separation of these brothers in enmity, he left for Constantinople, the stronghold of heresy, to continue his battle against error. Meanwhile the Semi-Arians, who were less numerous and less powerful, besought him to become the intermediary in a reconciliation between themselves and the bishops of the West. The Anomoeans, who had the immense advantage of being upheld by the emperor, dreaded the meeting and its outcome, and pleaded with the emperor to send this troublemaker back home. Constantius II acceded to their desire, and the exile was thus sent on his journey home. In 361 St. Hilary re-entered Poitiers in triumph and resumed possession of his see. The success he had achieved in his combat against error was rendered more brilliant shortly afterwards by the deposition of Saturninus, the Arian Bishop of Arles by whom he had been persecuted.

In 364, St. Hilary extended his efforts once more beyond Gaul, preaching wherever he went, disconcerting the heretics and procuring the triumph of orthodoxy.

If he was full of indulgence for those whom gentleness might finally win from error, he was intractable towards those who were obstinate in their adherence to it. He impeached Auxentius, bishop of Milan who was a firm defender of the Arian doctrines, but Emperor Valentinian, who protected the heretic, ordered Hilary to depart immediately from Milan.

After years of missionary travel, St. Hilary “Hammer of the Arians” returned to Poitiers, where he died in peace in 368. He was declared a doctor of the church in 1851 by Pope Pius IX.

References and Excerpts
[1] F. Media, “Saint Hilary of Poitiers,” Franciscan Media, 13-Jan-2016. [Online]. Available: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-hilary/. [Accessed: 23-Dec-2019].

[2] “Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Doctor of the Church.” [Online]. Available: https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_hilary_of_poitiers.html. [Accessed: 23-Dec-2019].

[3] “Saint Hilary, Bishop and Doctor.” [Online]. Available: https://www.salvemariaregina.info/SalveMariaRegina/SMR-163/Saint%20Hilary.html. [Accessed: 23-Dec-2019].

[4] “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Hilary of Poitiers.” [Online]. Available: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07349b.htm. [Accessed: 23-Dec-2019].

[5] “Hilary of Poitiers,” Wikipedia. 10-Dec-2019.