Patron Saint

"St Hilary was born at Poitiers, and his family was illustrious
in Gaul. He himself testifies that he was brought up in idolatry,
and gives us a detailed account of the steps by which God
conducted him to a knowledge of the faith when somewhat
advanced in years.

The Emperor Constantius and a synod of Milan in 355 required
all bishops to sign the condemnation of St Athanasius: such as
refused to comply were banished. St Hilary wrote on that
occasion his ‘First Book to Constantius’ , in which he entreated
him to restore peace to the Church.

Hilary had been married before his conversion, and his wife, by
whom he had a daughter named Apra, was yet living when he
was chosen bishop of Poitiers, about the year 350. He did all in
his power to escape this promotion; but his humility only made
the people more earnest in their choice; and, indeed, their
expectations were not disappointed, for his eminent qualities
shone forth so brilliantly as to attract the attention not only
Gaul, but of the whole Church. Soon after he was raised to the
Episcopal dignity he composed, before his exile, a commentary
on the Gospel of St. Matthew, which is still extant. That on the
Psalms he compiled after his banishment. From that time on the
Arian controversy chiefly employed his pen.

St Hilary went into exile about the middle of the year 356, and
remained there for some years, which time he employed in
composing several learned works. The principal and most
esteemed of these is that On the Trinity. The earliest Latin
hymn-writing is associated with the name of Hilary of Poitiers.

The emperor, again interfering in the affairs of the Church,
assembled a council of Arians, at Seleucia in Isauria, to
neutralize the decrees of the Council of Nicea. St Hilary, who
had then passed three years in Phrygia, was invited by the
semi-Arians, who hoped that he would be useful to their party
in crushing those who adhered strictly to the doctrine of Arius.
But he boldly defended the decrees of Nicaea, till at last, tired
out with controversy, he withdrew to Constantinople and
presented to the emperor a request, called his ‘Second Book to
Constantius’, begging permission to hold a public disputation
about religion with Saturninus, the author of his banishment.
The issue of this challenge was that the Arians, dreading such
a trial, persuaded the emperor to rid the East of a man who
never ceased to disturb its peace. Constantius accordingly
sent him back into Gaul in 360.

St Hilary returned through Illyricum and Italy to confirm the
weak. He was received at Poitiers with great demonstrations of
joy. A synod in Gaul, convoked at the instance of Hilary,
condemned that of Rimini in 359; and Saturninus, proving
obstinate, was excommunicated and deposed. Scandals were
removed, discipline, peace and purity of faith were restored.
The death of Constantius in 361 put an end to the Arian
persecution. Hilary undertook a journey to Milan in 364 to
confute Auxentius, the Arian usurper of that see, and in a
public disputation obliged him to confess Christ to be the
true God, our the same substance and divinity with the Father.
St Hilary, indeed, saw through his hypocrisy; but Auxentius
so far imposed on the Emperor Valentinian as to pass for
orthodox. Hilary died at Poitiers, probably in the year 368, but
neither the year nor the day can be determined with certainty.

St Hilary was proclaimed a doctor of the Church by Pope Pius
IX in 1851."

Quoted from the Concise Edition on The Lives of the Saints by
Butler’s Lives of the Saints and edited by Michael Walsh with a
forward by Cardinal Basis Hume, O.S.B. and published by Harper
& Row, Publishers, San Francisco, 1985.