ST. AUSTIN, who often urges the authority of St. Hilary against the
Pelagians, styles him _the illustrious doctor of the churches_.[1] St.
Jerom says[2] that he was a _most eloquent man, and the trumpet of the
Latins against the Arians_; and in another place, that in _St. Cyprian_
and _St. Hilary_, God had transplanted two _fair cedars_ out of the
world into his church.[3]
St. Hilary was born at Poictiers, and his family one of the most
illustrious in Gaul.[4] He spent his youth in the study of eloquence. He
himself testifies that he was brought up in idolatry, and gives us a
particular account of the steps by which God conducted him to the
knowledge of his saving faith.[5] He considered by the glimmering or
faint light of reason, that man, who is created a moral and free agent,
is placed in this world for the exercise of patience, temperance, and
other virtues, which he saw must receive from God a recompense after
this life. He ardently set about learning what God is; and after some
researches into the nature of the Supreme Being, quickly discovered the
absurdity of polytheism, or a plurality of gods; and was convinced that
there can be only one God, and that the same is eternal, unchangeable,
all-powerful, the first cause and author of all things. Full of these
reflections, he met with the holy scriptures, and was wonderfully
affected with that just and sublime description Moses gives of God in
those words, so expressive of his self-existence,[6] I AM WHO AM: and
was no less struck with the idea of his immensity and supreme dominion,
illustrated by the most lively images in the inspired language of the
prophets. The reading of the New Testament put an end to, and completed
his inquiries; and he learned from the first chapter of St. John, that
the Divine Word, God the Son, is coeternal and consubstantial with the
Father. Here he checked his natural curiosity, avoided subtilties, and
submitted his understanding to divine revelation, resolving what seemed
incomprehensible into the veracity and power of God; and not presuming
to measure divine mysteries by his shallow capacity. Being thus brought
to the knowledge of faith, he received the heavenly regeneration by
baptism. From that time forth he so squared his whole life by the rules
of piety, and so zealous were his endeavors to confirm others in the
faith of the holy Trinity, and to encourage all to virtue, that he
seemed, though a layman, already to possess the grace of the priesthood.
He was married before his conversion to the faith; and his wife, by whom
he had a daughter named Apra, or Abram, was yet living, when he was
chosen bishop of Poictiers, about the year 353; but from the time of
{141} his ordination he lived in perpetual continency.[7] He omitted no
endeavors to escape this promotion: but his humility only made the
people the more earnest to see him vested with that dignity; and indeed
their expectations were not frustrated in him, for his eminent virtue
and capacity shone forth with such a lustre, as soon drew upon him the
attention, not only of all Gaul, but of the whole church. Soon after he
was raised to the episcopal dignity, he composed, before his exile,
elegant comments on the gospel of Saint Matthew, which are still extant.
Those on the Psalms he compiled after his banishment.[8] Of these
comments on the Psalms, and on St. Matthew, we are chiefly to understand
St. Jerom, when he recommends, in a particular manner, the reading of
the works of St. Hilary to virgins and devout persons.[9] From that time
the Arian controversy chiefly employed his pen. He was an excellent
orator and poet. His style is lofty and noble, beautified with
rhetorical ornaments and figures, but somewhat studied; and the length
of his periods renders him sometimes obscure to the unlearned,[10] as
St. Jerom takes notice.[11] It is observed by Dr. Cave, that all his
writings breathe an extraordinary vein of piety. Saint Hilary solemnly
appeals to God,[12] that he held it as the great work of his life, to
employ all his faculties to announce God to the world, and to excite all
men to the love of him. He earnestly recommends the practice of
beginning every action and discourse by prayer,[13] and some act of
divine praise;[14] as also to meditate on {142} the law of God day and
night, to pray without ceasing, by performing all our actions with a
view to God their ultimate end, and to his glory.[15] He breathes a
sincere and ardent desire of martyrdom, and discovers a soul {143}
fearless of death and torments. He had the greatest veneration for
truth, sparing no pains in its pursuit, and dreading no dangers in its
defence. The emperor Constantius, having labored for several years to
compel the eastern churches to embrace Arianism, came into the West: and
after the overthrow of the tyrant Magnentius, made some stay at Arles,
while his Arian bishops held a council there, in which they engaged
Saturninus, the impious bishop of that city, in their party, in 353. A
bolder Arian council at Milan, in 355, held during the residence of the
emperor in that city, required all to sign the condemnation of St.
Athanasius. Such as refused to comply were banished; among whom were St.
Eusebius of Vercelli, Lucifer of Cagliari, and St. Dionysius of Milan,
into whose see Auxentius, the Arian, was intruded. St. Hilary wrote on
that occasion his first book to Constantius, in which he mildly
entreated him to restore peace to the church. He separated himself from
the three Arian bishops in the West, Ursacius, Valens, and Saturninus,
and exhibited an accusation against the last in a synod at Beziers. But
the emperor, who had information of the matter from Saturninus, sent an
order to Julian, then Caesar, and surnamed afterwards the Apostate, who
at that time commanded in Gaul, for St. Hilary's immediate banishment
into Phrygia, together with St. Rhodanius, bishop of Toulouse. The
bishops in Gaul being almost all orthodox, remained in communion with
St. Hilary, and would not suffer the intrusion of any one into his see,
which in his absence he continued to govern by his priests. The saint
went into banishment about the middle of the year 356, with as great
alacrity as another would take a journey of pleasure, and never
entertained the least disquieting thought of hardships, dangers, or
enemies, having a soul above both the smiles and frowns of the world,
and fixed only on God. He remained in exile somewhat upwards of three
years, which time he employed in composing several learned works. The
principal and most esteemed of these is that _On the Trinity, against
the Arians_, in twelve {144} books. In them he proves the
consubstantiality of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He teaches that
the church is one, out of which all heresies spring; not that by this
she is distinguished, as standing always one, always alone against them
all, and confounding them all: whereas they by perpetual divisions tear
each other in pieces, and so become the subject of her triumph.[16] He
proves that Arianism cannot be the faith of Christ, because not revealed
to St. Peter, upon whom the church was built and secured forever; for
whose faith Christ prayed, that it might never fail; who received the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whose judiciary sentence on earth is
that of heaven:[17] all which arguments he frequently urges.[18] He
proves the divinity of Christ by the miracles wrought at the sepulchres
of the apostles and martyrs, and by their relics: for the devils
themselves confess Christ's godhead, and roar and flee at the presence
of the venerable bones of his servants,[19] which he also mentions and
urges in his invective against Constantius.[20] In 358, he wrote his
book _On Synods_, or _On the Faith of the Orientals_, to explain the
terms and variation of the eastern Arians in their synods.
In his exile he was informed that his daughter Apra, whom he had left in
Gaul, had thoughts of embracing the married state; upon which he
implored Christ, with many tears, to bestow on her the precious jewel of
virginity. He sent her a letter that is still extant, in which he
acquaints her, that if she contemned all earthly things, spouse,
sumptuous garments, and riches, Christ had prepared for her, and had
shown unto him, at his prayers and tears, an inestimable never-falling
diamond, infinitely more precious than she was able to frame to herself
an idea of. He conjures her by the God of heaven, and entreats her not
to make void his anxiety for her, nor to deprive herself of so
incomparable a good. Fortunatus assures us that the original letter was
kept with veneration in the church of Poictiers, in the sixth century,
when he wrote, and that Apra followed his advice, and died happily at
his feet after his return.[21] St. Hilary sent to her with this letter
two hymns, composed by himself; one for the evening, which does not seem
to have reached our times; the other for the morning, which is the hymn
_Lucis largitor splendide_.
The emperor, by an unjust usurpation in the affairs of the Church,
assembled a council of Arians at Seleucia, in Isauria, to undermine the
great council of Nice. St. Hilary, who had then passed four years in
banishment, in Phrygia, was invited thither by the Semi-Arians, who
hoped from his lenity that he would be useful to their party in crushing
the staunch Arians, that is, those who adhered strictly to the doctrine
of Arius. But no human considerations could daunt his courage. He boldly
defended the decrees of Nice, till at last, tired out with hearing the
blasphemies of the heretics, he withdrew to Constantinople. The weak
emperor was the dupe sometimes of the Arians, and at other times of the
Semi-Arians. These last prevailed at Seleucia, in September, 359, as the
former did in a council held at Constantinople in the following year,
360, where having the advantage, they procured the banishment of the
Semi-Arians, less wicked than themselves. St. Hilary, who had withdrawn
from Seleucia to Constantinople, presented to the emperor a request,
called his second book to Constantius, begging the liberty of holding a
public disputation about religion with {145} Saturninus, the author of
his banishment. He presses him to receive the unchangeable apostolic
faith, injured by the late innovations, and smartly rallies the fickle
humor of the heretics, who were perpetually making new creeds, and
condemning their old ones, having made four within the compass of the
foregoing year; so that faith was become that of the times, not that of
the gospels, and that there were as many faiths as men, as great a
variety of doctrine as of manners, as many blasphemies as vices.[22] He
complains that they had their yearly and monthly faiths; that they made
creeds to condemn and repent of them; and that they formed new ones to
anathematize those that adhered to their old ones. He adds, that every
one had scripture texts, and the words _Apostolic Faith_, in their
mouths, for no other end than to impose on weak minds: for by attempting
to change faith, which is unchangeable, faith is lost; they correct and
amend, till weary of all, they condemn all. He therefore exhorts them to
return to the haven from which the gusts of their party spirit and
prejudice had driven them, as the only means to be delivered out of
their tempestuous and perilous confusion. The issue of this challenge
was, that the Arians, dreading such a trial, persuaded the emperor to
rid the East of a man that never ceased to disturb its peace, by sending
him back into Gaul; which he did, but without reversing the sentence of
his banishment, in 360.
St. Hilary returned through Illyricum and Italy to confirm the weak. He
was received at Poictiers with the greatest demonstrations of joy and
triumph, where his old disciple, St. Martin, rejoined him, to pursue the
exercises of piety under his direction. A synod in Gaul, convoked at the
instance of St. Hilary, condemned that of Rimini, which, in 359, had
omitted the word _Consubstantial_. Saturninus, proving obstinate, was
excommunicated and deposed for his heresy and other crimes. Scandals
were removed, discipline, peace, and purity of faith were restored, and
piety flourished. The death of Constantius put an end to the Arian
persecution. St. Hilary was the mildest of men, full of condescension
and affability to all: yet seeing this behavior ineffectual, he composed
an invective against Constantius, in which he employed severity, and the
harshest terms; and for which undoubtedly he had reasons that are
unknown to us. This piece did not appear abroad till after the death of
that emperor. Our saint undertook a journey to Milan, in 364, against
Auxentius, the Arian usurper of that see, and in a public disputation
obliged him to confess Christ to be true God, of the same substance and
divinity with the Father. St. Hilary indeed saw through his hypocrisy;
but this dissembling heretic imposed so far on the emperor Valentinian,
as to pass for orthodox. Our saint died at Poictiers, in the year 368,
on the thirteenth of January, or on the first of November, for his name
occurs in very ancient Martyrologies on both these days. In the Roman
breviary his office is celebrated on the fourteenth of January. The one
is probably that of some translation of his relics. The first was made
at Poictiers in the reign of Clovis I., on which see Cointe.[23] From
St. Gregory of Tours, it appears that before his time some part of St.
Hilary's relics was honored in a church in Limousin.[24] Alcuin mentions
the veneration of the same at Poictiers;[25] and it is related that his
relics were burned by the Huguenots at Poictiers.[26] But this we must
understand of some small portion, or of the dust remaining in his tomb.
For his remains were translated from Poictiers to the abbey of St.
Denys, near Paris, as is proved by the tradition of that abbey, a writer
of the abbey of Richenow, in {146} the ninth century,[27] and other
monuments.[28] Many miracles performed by St. Hilary are related by
Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Poictiers, and are the subject of a
whole book added to his life, which seems to have been written by
another Fortunatus. St. Gregory of Tours, Flodoard, and others, have
mentioned several wrought at his tomb. Dom Coutant, the most judicious
and learned Maurist monk, has given an accurate edition of his works, in
one volume in folio, at Paris, in 1693, which was reprinted at Verona by
the Marquis Scipio Maffei, in 1730, together with additional comments on
several Psalms.
* * * * *
St. Hilary observes, that singleness of heart is the most necessary
condition of faith and true virtue, "For Christ teaches that only those
who become again as it were little children, and by the simplicity of
that age cut off the inordinate affections of vice, can enter the
kingdom of heaven. These follow and obey their father, love their
mother; are strangers to covetousness, ill-will, hatred, arrogance, and
lying, and are inclined easily to believe what they hear. This
disposition of affections opens the way to heaven. We must therefore
return to the simplicity of little children, in which we shall bear some
resemblance to our Lord's humility."[29] This, in the language of the
Holy Ghost, is called the foolishness of the cross of Christ,[30] in
which consists true wisdom. That prudence of the flesh and worldly
wisdom, which is the mother of self-sufficiency, pride, avarice, and
vicious curiosity, the source of infidelity, and the declared enemy of
the spirit of Christ, is banished by this holy simplicity; and in its
stead are obtained true wisdom, which can only be found in a heart freed
from the clouds of the passions, perfect prudence, which, as St. Thomas
shows, is the fruit of the assemblage of all virtues, and a divine light
which grace fails not to infuse. This simplicity, which is the mother of
Christian discretion, is a stranger to all artifice, design, and
dissimulation, to all views or desires of self-interest, and to all
undue respect or consideration of creatures. All its desires and views
are reduced to this alone, of attaining to the perfect union with God.
Unfeignedly to desire this one thing, to belong to God alone, to arrive
at his pure love, and to do his will in all things, is that simplicity
or singleness of heart of which we speak, and which banishes all
inordinate affections of the heart, from which arise the most dangerous
errors of the understanding. This is the essential disposition of every
one who sincerely desires to live by the spirit of Christ. That divine
spouse of souls, loves to communicate himself to such.[31] His
conversation (or as another version has it, his secret) is with the
simple.[32] His delight is in those who walk with simplicity.[33] This
is the characteristic of all the saints:[34] whence the Holy Ghost cries
out, Approach him not with a double heart.[35] That worldly wisdom is
not subject to the law of God, neither can it be.[36] Its intoxication
blinds men, and shuts their eyes to the light of divine revelation. They
arrogate to themselves the exclusive privilege of learning and clear
understanding: but the skepticism, the pitiful inconsistencies, and
monstrous extravagances, which characterize their writings and
discourses, make us blush to see so strong an alliance of ignorance and
presumption; and lament that the human mind should be capable of falling
into a state of so deplorable degeneracy. Among the fathers of the
church we admire men the most learned of their age, the most penetrating
and most judicious, and at the same time {147} the most holy and
sincere; who, being endowed with true simplicity of heart, discovered in
the mysteries of the cross the secrets of infinite wisdom, which they
made their study, and the rule of their actions.
Footnotes:
1. L. 2, adv. Julian, c. 8.
2. L. 2, adv. Rufin. p. 415.
3. In Isa. c. 60.
4. S. Hieron. in Catal.
5. L. 1, de Trin. p. 1-10.
6. Exod. iii. 14.
7. The contrary is certainly a mistake in Dr. Cave; for St. Jerom,
writing against Jovinian, says, in {} p. 175, that though the church
was sometimes obliged to make choice of married men for the
priesthood, because virgins, or unmarried, could not always be
found, they notwithstanding lived ever after continent. _Certe
confiteris, non posse esse episcopum qui in episcopatu filios
faciat: alioqui si deprehensus fuerit non quasi vir tenebitur, sed
quasi adulter condemnabitur, ib_. And in his book against
Vigilantius, p. 28, he observes, that in the churches of the East,
in Egypt, and in the apostolic see of Rome, those only were made
clergymen, who were virgins, or single; or if they were married,
they ceased to live as husbands. _Aut virgines clericos accipiunt,
aut contintes; aut si uxores habuerint, mariti esse desinunt_, p.
281.
8. S. Hilar. in Ps. 53, n. 8, in Ps. 67, p. 15, and Contant, Armon. in
S. Hilar. in Psalmos, p. 165.
9. Ep. ad Laetam.
10. On the interpretation of certain obscure passages of the works of
St. Hilary, see Dom Coutant, in an excellent preface to his edition
of this father's works; also Witasse de Incarn. t. 2, &c.
11. Ep. 49, ad Paulinum, t. 4, p. 567.
12. Lib. 1, de Trinit.
13. Doubtless his love of prayer, and the assiduous application of his
mind to that holy exercise, moved him to make the Psalms a main
object of his sacred studies and meditation. His comments are
elegant; though in them he dwells much on the literal sense, he
neglects not the mystical and allegorical, every thing in these
divine oracles being prophetic, as he takes notice, (in Ps. 142, n.
1.) Often he finds the immediate literal sense clear; in other
passages, he shows Christ and his Church to be pointed out. The true
sense of the holy scriptures he teaches, only to be opened to us by
the spirit of assiduous prayer, (in Ps. 125, n. 2, &c.) The fatal
and opposite errors, which the overweening spirit and study of a
false criticism have produced in every age, justify this general
remark of the fathers, that though the succor of reasonable
criticism ought by no means to be neglected, a spirit of prayer is
the only key which can open to us the sacred treasures of the divine
truths, by the light which it obtains of the Holy Ghost, and the
spirit of simplicity, piety, and humility, which it infuses. In this
disposition, the holy doctors of the Church discovered in the divine
oracles that spirit of perfect virtue, which they imbibed and
improved from their assiduous meditation. St. Hilary remarks, that
the first lesson we are to study in them is, that of humility, in
which "Christ has taught, that all the titles and prizes of our
faith are comprised:" In humilitate docuit omnia fidei nomina et
praemia contineri, (in Ps. 118, l. 20, n. 1, p. 358.) Whence the
royal prophet entreats God, to consider nothing in him but his
lowliness of heart, (v. 153, ibid.) This holy father sticks not to
say, humility is the greatest work of our faith, our best sacrifice
to God, (in Ps. 1311, n. 1. p. 442;) but true humility is
accompanied with an invincible courage, and a firmness and constancy
in virtue, which no fear of worldly powers is ever able to shake,
(in Ps. xiv. p. 66.) St. Hilary laments, that even several pastors
of the church thought it a part of piety to flatter princes. But
true religion teaches us (Matt. x. 28) only to fear things which are
justly to be feared, that is, to fear God, to fear sin, or what can
hurt our souls: for what threatens only our bodies, this is to be
despised, when the interest of God and our souls is concerned. We
indeed study out of charity to give offence to no one, (1 Cor. x.
32, 33;) but desire only to please men for God, not by contemning
him, (in Ps. 52, p. 89, 90.) Prayer is the great Christian duty,
which this holy doctor was particularly solicitous to inculcate,
teaching that it consists in the cry of the heart; not in the lips,
as David cried to God in his whole heart, Ps. cxviii. v. 145, (in
Ps. cxviii. l. 19, p. 352.) We are to pour forth our souls before
God, with earnestness, and with abundance of tears, (in Ps. 41, apud
Marten. t. 9, p. 71.) Amidst the dangers and evils of this life, our
only comfort ought to be in God, in the assured hope of his
promises, and in prayer. (Ib.) That prayer is despised by God, which
is slothful and lukewarm, accompanied with distrust, distracted with
unprofitable thoughts, weakened by worldly anxiety and desires of
earthly goods, or fruitless, for want of the support of good works,
(in Ps. liv. p. 104.) All our actions and discourses ought to be
begin by prayer, and the divine praise, (in Ps. lxiv. p. 162.) The
day among Christians is always begun by prayer, and ended by hymns
to God, (ib. n. 12, p. 169.) By this public homage of the church,
and of every faithful soul in it, God is particularly honored, and
he delights in it. (St. Jerom. in eund. Ps.) St. Hilary takes
notice, that the night is of all others the most proper time for
prayer; as the example of Christ, David, and other saints,
demonstrates, (in Ps. cxviii. l. 8, p. 292.) He observes, that it
cannot be doubted, but among all the acts of prayer, that of the
divine praise is in general the most noble and most excellent: and
that it is for his infinite goodness and mercy, in the first place,
that we are bound to praise him, (in Ps. cxxxiv p. 469.) Next to
this, he places the duty of thanksgiving. (Ib.) To be silent in the
divine praises, he calls the greatest of all punishments; and takes
notice, that every one makes what he loves the chiefest object of
his joy: as we see in the drunkard, the covetous, or the ambitious
man: thus the prophet makes the heavenly Jerusalem the beginning of
his joy; always bearing in mind, that this is his eternal country,
in which he will be associated with the troops of angels, be
received into the kingdom of God, and put in possession of its
glory; he therefore finds all other things insipid, and knows no
other comfort or joy but in this hope, bearing always in mind, that
the glorious inhabitants of that kingdom never cease singing the
divine praises, saying, Holy, holy, holy, &c. (in Ps. cxxxvi. n. 11,
p. 494.) In another place he tells us, that the prophet bears not
the delays of his body, (moras corporis sui non patitur,) sighing
with the apostle to be dissolved and clothed with immortality: but
earnestly praying, that he may find mercy, and be delivered from
falling into the lake of torments, (in Ps. cxlii. n. 8, 9, p. 549.)
During this exile to meditate on eternity, and on the divine law and
judgments, ought to be our assiduous occupation, (in Ps. cxlii. n.
6, p. 548,) especially in time of tribulations and temptations, (in
Ps. cxviii. l. 12, n. 10, p. 313.) The world is to be shunned, at
least in spirit; first, because it is filled on every side with
snares and dangers, secondly, that our souls may more freely soar
above it, always thinking on God; hence, he says, our souls must be,
as it were, spiritual birds of heaven, always raised high on the
wing; and he cries out, "Thou art instructed in heavenly science:
what hast thou to do with anxious worldly cares? Thou hast renounced
the world; what hast thou to do with its superfluous concerns? Why
dost thou complain if thou art taken in a snare, by wandering in a
strange land, who oughtest to restrain thy affections from straying
from home? Say rather, Who will give me wings as of a dove, and I
will fly, and will be at rest?" Ps. liv. 7, (in Ps. cxviii. l. 14,
p. 328.) To build a house for God, that is, to prepare a dwelling
for him in our souls, we must begin by banishing sin, and all
earthly affections, (in Ps. xxxi. p. 73;) for Christ, who is wisdom,
sanctity, and truth, cannot establish his reign in the breast of a
fool, hypocrite, or sinner, (in Ps. xli. p. 60, ap. Marten. t. 9.)
It is easy for God, by penance, to repair his work, howsoever it may
have been defaced by vice, as a potter can restore or improve the
form of a vessel, while the clay is yet moist, (in Ps. ii. p. 47:)
but he often inculcates that repentance, or the confession of sin,
is a solemn profession of sinning no more, (in Ps. cxxxvii. p. 498,
in Ps. li. and cxviii. p. 263, &c.) Every thing that is inordinate
in the affections must be cut off. "The prophet gave himself entire
to God, according to the tenor of his consecration of himself.
Whatever lives in him, lives to God. His whole heart, his whole soul
is fixed on God alone, and occupied in him, and he never loses sight
of him. In all his works and thoughts God is before his eyes." Totum
quod vivit, Deo vivit. (Ps. cxviii. l. 14, n. 16, p. 327.) Upon
these words, _I am thy servant_, Ps. cxviii. v. 125, he observes,
that every Christian frequently repeats this, but most deny by their
actions what they profess in words, "It is the privilege of the
prophet to call himself the servant of God in every affection of his
heart, in every circumstance and action of his life," &c. (in Ps.
cxviii. l. 17, p. 339.) He teaches that the angels, patriarchs, and
prophets are as it were mountains protecting the church, (in Ps.
cxxiv. n. 6, p. 404;) and that holy angels attend and succor the
faithful, (in Ps. cxxxvii. p. 499;) assist them in time of combat
against the devils, (in Ps. lxv. p. 178, and in Ps. cxxxiv. p. 475;)
carry up their prayers to their heavenly Father with an eager zeal;
and looking upon this ministry as an honor, (in Matt. c. 18, p.
699.) That the church of Christ is one, out of which, as out of the
ark of Noah, no one man be saved, (in Ps. cxlvi., xiv., lxiv.,
cxxviii., and cxvvii. in Matt. c. 4, and 7 De Trinit. l. 7, p. 917.)
He mentions fast days of precept, the violation of which renders a
Christian a slave of the devil, a vessel of death, and fuel of hell,
(in Ps. cxviii. l. 18, p. 349.) This crime he joins with pride and
fornication, as sins at the sight of which every good Christian
ought to pine away with grief and zeal, according to the words of
Ps. cxviii. v. 139. Saint Hilary seems to have explained the whole
Psalter, though only part is recovered by the editors of his works.
To the comments published by Dom Coutant at Paris, in 1693, the
marquis Scipio Maffei added some others on several other Psalms, in
his edition at Verona, in 1730. Dom Martenne, in 1733, published
others on certain other Psalms, which he had discovered in a
manuscript at Anchin, in his Amplissima Monumentorum Collectio, t.
9, p. 55. These comments on the Psalms, St. Hilary compiled after
his exile, as appears from certain allusions to his books on the
Trinity, and from his frequent reflections against the Arians.
Nothing of this is found in his commentary on St. Matthew, which Dom
Coutant shows to have been the first of his works in the order of
time, composed soon after he was raised to the episcopal dignity. He
here and there borrows short passages from Origen, but sticks closer
to the literal sense, though he sometimes has recourse to the
allegorical, for the sake of some moral instruction. St. Hilary is
one of the first who published any Latin comments in the holy
scriptures. Rheticius, bishop of Autun, and St. Victorinus of
Passaw, though the latter wrote in Greek, had opened the way in the
West in the beginning of the same century. St. Hilary, in this
commentary on St. Matthew, excellently inculcates in few words the
maxims of Christian virtue, especially fraternal charity and
meekness, by which our souls pass to divine charity and peace, (in
Matt. c. 4, v. 18, 19, p. 626:) and the conditions of fasting and
prayer, though for the exposition of our Lord's prayer, he refers to
that of St. Cyprian; adding that Tertullian has left us also a very
suitable work upon it; but that his subsequent error has weakened
the authority of his former writings which may deserve approbation,
(in c. 5, p. 630.) The road to heaven he shows to be exceeding
narrow, because even among Christians very few sincerely despise the
world, and labor strenuously to subdue their flesh and all their
passions, and to shun all the incentives of vice, (in c. 6, p. 368.)
St. Peter he calls the Prince of the College of the Apostles, and
the Porter of Heaven, and extols the authority of the keys conferred
upon him, (in Matt. c. 7, p. 642, in c. 16, p. 690. Also 1. 6. de
Trin. p. 891, 903, 9114.) He proves that Christ, in his bloody
sweat, grieved more for the danger of his disciples and other
causes, than for his own death; because he had in his last supper
already consecrated his blood to be poured forth for the remission
of sin. Numquid pati ipse nolebat. Atquin superius fundendum in
remissionem peccatorum corporis sui sanguinem consecraverat, (S.
Hilar. in Matt. c. 31, p. 743.) His twelve books on the Trinity he
compiled during his banishment in Phrygia, between the years 356 and
359, as is clear from his own express testimony, and that of St.
Jerom. In the first book of this immortal monument of his admirable
genius and piety, he beautifully shows that man's felicity is only
to be found in God; and that the light of reason suffices to
demonstrate this, which he illustrates by an account of his own
conversion to the faith. After this he takes notice, that we can
learn only by God's revelation, his nature, or what he is, he being
the competent witness of himself, who it known only by himself, (n.
18, p. 777.) In the second book he explains the Trinity, which we
profess in the form of baptism, and says, that faith alone in
believing, and sincerity and devotion in adoring, this mystery ought
to suffice without disputing or prying, and laments, that by the
blasphemies of the Sabellians and Arians, who perverted the true
sense of the scriptures, he was compelled to dispute of things
ineffable and incomprehensible which only necessity can excuse, (n.
25.) He then proves the eternal generation of the Son, the
procession of the Holy Ghost, and their consubstantiality in one
nature, (l. 2 and 3.) He checks their presumption in pretending to
fathom the Trinity, by showing that they cannot understand many
miracles of Christ or corporeal things, which yet they confess to be
most certain, (l. 3, n. 19, 20, 24.) He detects and confutes the
subtilties of the Arians, in their various confessions of faith, (l.
4, 5, 6,) also of the Sabellians and Photinians, (l. 7;) and
demonstrates the divinity of Christ, from the confession of St.
Peter, &c., (l. 6,) and of the very Jews, who were more sincere than
the Arians, acknowledging that Christ called himself the natural Son
of God. (John x. 31, &c. l. 7, n. 2, 3, p. 931.) The natural unity
of the Father and Son, he demonstrates from that text, "I and my
Father are one," and others, (l. 8,) and observes that both from the
testimony of Christ in the holy scriptures, and from the faith of
the church, we believe without doubting the Eucharist to be the true
body and blood of Christ, (l. 8, n. 14, p. 955, 956.) He answers
several objections from scripture, (l. 9,) and shows there was
something in Christ (viz. the divine person, &c.) which did not
suffer in his passion, (l. 10.) Other objections he confutes, (l.
11,) and in his last book defends the eternity of the Son of God.
Between August in 358, and May in 359, St. Hilary, after he had been
three years in banishment, and was still in Asia, published his book
On Synods, to inform the Catholics in Gaul, Britain, and Germany,
what judgment they ought to form of several synods, held lately in
the East, chiefly by the Arians and Semi-Arians: a work of great use
in the history of those times, and in which St. Hilary's prudence,
humility, modesty, greatness of soul, constancy, invincible
meekness, and love of peace, shine forth. In this work he mollifies
certain expressions of the Semi-Arians in their councils, because
writing before the council of Rimini, he endeavored to gain them by
this method, whereas he at other times severely condemned the same;
as did also St. Athanasius, in his book on the same subject, and
under the same title, which he composed after the council of Rimini;
and expressly to show the variations of those heretics. (See
Coutant, vit. S. Hilar. p. c. ci. et praef. in S. Hilar. de Synodis,
p. 1147.) Fifteen fragments of St. Hilary's history of the councils
of Rimini and Seleucia furnish important materials for the history
of Arianism, particularly of the council of Rimini. In his first
book to the emperor Constantius, which he wrote in 355 or 356, he
conjures that prince with tears to restore peace to the church, and
leave the decision of ecclesiastical causes to its pastors. The
excellent request which he presented to Constantius at
Constantinople, in 360, is called his second book to that prince.
The third book ought to be styled, with Coutant, Against
Constantius: for in it St. Hilary directs it to the Catholics, (n. 2
and 12) though he often uses an apostrophe to Constantius. The saint
wrote it five years after the council of Milan, in 355, as he
testifies; consequently in 360, after that prince had rejected his
second request; but it was only published after the death of that
emperor, in the following year, as is clear from St. Jerom: He says
Constantius, by artifices and flattery, was a more dangerous
persecutor than Nero and Decius: he tells him, "Thou receivest the
priests with a kiss, as Christ was betrayed by one: thou bowest thy
head to receive their blessing, that thou mayest trample on their
faith: thou entertainest them at thy table, as Judas went from table
to betray his master." Fleury (l. 14, n. 26) bids us observe, in
these words, with what respect emperors then treated bishops. St.
Hilary in his elegant book against Auxentius, gives the catholics an
account of his conferences with that heretic at Milan in 364.
14. In Ps. 64.
15. In Ps. 1, p. 19, 20.
16. Lib. 7, de Trinit. n. 4, p. 917.
17. Lib. 6, n. 37, 38, p. 904.
18. In Ps. 131, n. 4, p. 447, in cap. 16, Matt. n. 7, p. 690.
19. Lib. 11, de Trinit. n. 3.
20. Lib. 3, adv. Constant. n. 8, p. 1243, Ed. Ben.
21. This letter is commended by the most judicious critics, Baronius,
Tillemont, Fleury, and Coutant, a monk of the congregation of St.
Maur, in his edition of the works of St. Hilary, and others. The
style is not pompous, but adapted to the capacity of a girl of
thirteen years of age.
22. Facta est fides temporum, potius quam evangellorum, l. 2, ad Const.
p. 1227. Tot nunc fides existere, quot voluntates, ib. Annuas atque
menstruas de Deo fides decernimus, decretis poenitimusm poenitentes
defendimus, defensos anathematizamus. ib. p. 1228.
23. Cointe Annal. Fr. ad ann. 538, n. 41, 42, 43.
24. L. de Gl. Conf. c. 2.
25. Alcuin, Hom. de S. Willibrodo.
26. Baillet, Vie de S. Hilaire.
27. Ap. Mab. anal. t. 4, p. 644.
28. Aimion. l. 4, c. 17 & 33. Coutant, Vit. S. Hilar. p. cxxiv, cxxv,
cxxix.
29. S. Hilar. in Matt. c. 18, v. i. p. 698.
30. 1 Cor. i. 17, & iii. 18. S. Hilar. l. 3, de Trin. n. 24, 25, pp.
822, 823.
31. 1 Par. xxix. 17.
32. Prov. iii. 32.
33. Prov. xi. 20.
34. 2 Cor. i. 12.
35. Eccles. i. 39.
36. Rom. viii. 7.