(A.D. 368.)
[In the Roman Missal, before 1435, there was no mention of S.
Hilary; in the reformed Breviary of Cardinal Quignon, published by
authority of Pope Paul III., S. Hilary was commemorated on Jan.
31st, the same day as that on which he was noted in the York
Calendar, because Jan. 13th is the Octave of the Epiphany.
Afterwards, however, the commemoration of S. Hilary was fixed for
Jan. 14th, his name being inserted in the Martyrology on the 13th;
but with this clause, "His festival is, however, to be celebrated
on the morrow," so as not to interfere with the Octave of the
Epiphany. The Sarum, Dominican, Belgian, and some of the German
Calendars mark the 13th as the feast of S. Hilary. The Anglican
Calendar also notes his name on this day. The Bollandists give his
life on this day, though in the Roman offices the commemoration is
on the morrow. His own writings, and the histories of his age,
contain all the materials for his life.]
S. Hilary was born at Poictiers in Gaul. There is some reason to believe
that his family was illustrious in that country. His parents were
pagans, and he was brought up in idolatry. He gives an account of his
conversion to the faith of Christ in his book "On the Trinity." He was
married before his conversion; and his wife, by whom he had a daughter,
named Apra, was yet living when he was chosen Bishop of Poictiers, about
the year 353; but from the time of his ordination he lived in perpetual
continence. It is probable that S. Hilary was elected Bishop from the
rank of a layman, as was often the case in the early ages, and received
all orders by accumulation. He soon became renowned in Gaul as a
preacher; and S. Martin, then a young man, was attracted by his name,
and lived for a time at Poictiers as his disciple.
Immediately after the Arian Council at Milan, in A.D. 355, which had
condemned S. Athanasius, and had prevailed on the Emperor Constantius to
banish all the Bishops who adhered to him, S. Hilary wrote to the
Emperor, entreating him to stop the persecution, to recall the Catholic
Bishops, and forbid secular judges to interfere in the affairs of the
Church. This remonstrance had no effect; but he had the satisfaction of
seeing the Gallican Bishops remain firm during those days of trial.
Saturninus, Bishop of Arles, alone united with Ursacius and Valens, two
Illyrian Bishops, to vex the Catholics. They held an Arian synod at
Béziers in Languedoc, at which Saturninus himself presided. S. Hilary
there made a noble confession of the Nicene Faith, and refuted the
heresy of Arius; but the party of Saturninus, reinforced by Bishops from
the neighbouring countries, was too strong for him, and he was condemned
and deposed; and immediately afterwards the Emperor Constantius banished
him into Phrygia. He left Gaul early in A.D. 356, in company with
Rhodanus, Bishop of Toulouse, whom God called from those evils to His
kingdom, soon after their arrival in Phrygia.
His departure was followed by a cruel persecution of the Gallican
clergy; but nothing could daunt their constancy, or prevail on them to
communicate with the enemies of S. Hilary and the Nicene Faith, or to
fill up his see, which in the eye of the Church was not vacant. The
priests and deacons of Toulouse were severely beaten, and their church
profaned. In A.D. 357 the Bishops wrote a letter to S. Hilary assuring
him of their fidelity and firmness. About the same time S. Hilary
received a letter from Apra, his only daughter, informing him that she
had been asked in marriage by a young man. She was then about thirteen
or fourteen years of age. He immediately wrote to her, entreating her to
set her thoughts on the more precious rewards which the Lord Jesus has
promised to those virgins who devote themselves wholly to their Heavenly
Spouse, and are not entangled in the snares of earthly love. He reminded
her of that blissful company whom the Church commemorates on the feast
of the Holy Innocents (Dec. 28), who sing a new song which no man can
learn but they who are virgins and follow the Lamb whithersoever He
goeth. She yielded to his pious counsel; and on his return home God took
her to Himself at his request, without pain or any visible sickness.
Bishop Jeremy Taylor relates this little story in his own beautiful
language in the "Holy Dying."
In return for the comforting letter which the Gallican Bishops had sent
him, and at their request to be informed regarding the faith of the
Eastern Churches, S. Hilary wrote his "History of Synods" in the end of
A.D. 358. It contains an account of the various councils that had been
assembled in the East on the subject of the Arian heresy, together with
a defence of the Nicene Faith. It is addressed to the British Bishops
among others, whom he congratulates on their steadfastness. The Saint
also wrote his book "On the Trinity" during his exile, and a smaller
treatise "Against the Arians." He was also the undoubted author of
several hymns, and others have been attributed to him.
[Illustration: S. HILARY BAPTIZING S. MARTIN, OF TOURS. From a Window,
dated 1528, in the Church of S. Florentin, Yonne.]
[Illustration: THE THREE CHILDREN IN THE FIERY FURNACE. From the
Catacombs.
Jan. 13.]
In A.D. 359 the Western Bishops held a synod at Rimini, at which nearly
four hundred were present. The Arian party among them beguiled the rest
by its address, to sanction its errors by their signatures. The Bishops
of Agen and Tongres took a prominent lead in the proceedings of the
synod. In September of the same year S. Hilary was invited with other
Catholic Bishops by the semi-Arians to their council at Seleucia, in
Isauria. Their object was to defeat the Arians, and they hoped that the
Catholics would assist them. In this council S. Hilary bore witness to
the faith of the Western Church being the same as that declared to be
the Catholic Faith at the Council of Nice in A.D. 325, and he protested
against both the Arian and semi-Arian opinions as novelties. He
accompanied the deputies of the council to Constantinople, in hopes of
obtaining from the Emperor Constantius the recall of his sentence of
banishment.
While the Arian synod was sitting at Constantinople, in January, A.D.
360, he entreated the Emperor to grant him a conference with Saturninus,
Bishop of Arles, the author of his exile, and that he might be allowed
to appear in the synod, and bear witness to the Catholic Faith. He also
complained of the perplexity which the multiplication of creeds and
confessions of faith had occasioned; for in the preceding year alone
four had been published to the Church. The Emperor refused to grant S.
Hilary what he asked; but the Arians so much dreaded his presence in the
East, that they persuaded Constantius to send him back to Gaul, yet
without formally recalling the sentence of exile.
The joy of his return to his Church and his native land was much
lessened by the miserable confusion which he left behind him in the
East. Still it must have been very great; and his approach was hailed
with delight by the Church in Gaul. S. Martin, who had been living in
retirement in the island of Gallenari, off the city of Genoa, went to
Rome to meet him; but finding that he had already left it, he followed
him to Poictiers, and soon after built a monastery near the town (see
November 11.) S. Hilary immediately applied himself to repair the
mischief which the Council of Rimini had done: and a synod was assembled
at Paris, which condemned its proceedings, and declared the true Faith
of the _consubstantiality_ of the Son of God. The Bishops also
corresponded with their banished brethren in the East.
In A.D. 363 S. Hilary made a journey into Italy in company with Eusebius
of Vercelli. They were at Milan in the autumn of the following year, at
the time when the Emperor Valentinian arrived there. The people were
Catholic, and even abstained from entering the churches, to avoid
communicating with Auxentius their Arian Bishop. In a public disputation
which the Emperor invited him to hold, S. Hilary extorted from the Arian
a confession of the Nicene Faith, which was taken down in writing and
preserved. Auxentius was enraged at being thus vanquished, and prevailed
on the Emperor to send S. Hilary away from Milan. Before his departure
he addressed a letter to the Catholic Bishops and laity in the
neighbourhood, exhorting them to remain firm. This was the last public
act of his life which is recorded. He returned home to Poictiers, and
finished his labours by a blessed death in January, A.D. 368, according
to the testimony of the greater number of historians. A brilliant light
is said to have filled the chamber where the body of the holy man was
lying. S. Gregory of Tours attests the truth of a miracle performed at
his tomb; and others also are authenticated by various writers. But
neither the fame of these, nor respect for the memory of the saintly
Confessor, prevented his tomb from being violated by the Calvinists in
1567.