Today is the Feast Day of St. Hilary of Poitiers
Today is the Feast Day of St. Hilary of Poitiers
Bishop and Doctor of the Church
A Defender of Faith: The Life and Legacy of Saint Hilary of Poitiers
Saint Hilary of Poitiers, commonly referred to as the "Athanasius of the West," was a renowned early Church Father and bishop of Poitiers, France. He was born around the end of the 3rd century, circa 310 A.D., into a pagan family in Poitiers. Hilary's quest for knowledge led him to an in-depth study of the Scriptures, culminating in his conversion to Christianity.
Following his conversion, Hilary became renowned for his devout faith and extensive knowledge of Christian doctrine. His fervor and dedication to the faith resulted in his election as Bishop of Poitiers around 350 A.D. In this role, he served with exceptional commitment, emerging as a pivotal figure in the fight against Arianism in the Western Church. Arianism, a theological doctrine that challenged the full divinity of Jesus Christ, was a significant controversy in the Church at that time.
Hilary's steadfast opposition to Arianism led to his exile to Phrygia by Emperor Constantius II, a supporter of the Arians. During his exile (356-361 A.D.), Hilary voluntarily wrote several significant works, including De Trinitate (On the Trinity), where he defended the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and Christ's full divinity. His writings, noted for their clarity and comprehensiveness, greatly influenced the Church's eventual rejection of Arianism.
After returning from exile, Hilary continued his efforts towards the unity and purity of the Church. He passed away in 368 A.D., leaving a legacy as a defender of orthodoxy and a proponent of Trinitarian theology. Pope Pius IX declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1851 in recognition of his substantial contributions to Christian theology.
Saint Hilary's life and works symbolize the early Church's efforts to articulate and defend its core teachings. His intellectual prowess, pastoral concern, and unwavering commitment to orthodoxy established him as a monumental figure in the history of the Church, especially in the Western tradition.
From the Treatise on the Trinity by Saint Hilary of Poitiers
May I serve you by making you known
I am well aware, almighty God and Father, that in my life I owe you a most particular duty. It is to make my every thought and word speak of you.
In fact, you have conferred on me this gift of speech, and it can yield no greater return than to be at your service. It is for making you known as Father, the Father of the only-begotten God, and preaching this to the world that knows you not and to the heretics who refuse to believe in you.
In this matter the declaration of my intention is only of limited value. For the rest, I need to pray for the gift of your help and your mercy. As we spread our sails of trusting faith and public avowal before you, fill them with the breath of your Spirit, to drive us on as we begin this course of proclaiming your truth. We have been promised, and he who made the promise is trustworthy: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Yes, in our poverty we will pray for our needs. We will study the sayings of your prophets and apostles with unflagging attention, and knock for admittance wherever the gift of understanding is safely kept. But yours it is, Lord, to grant our petitions, to be present when we seek you and to open when we knock.
There is an inertia in our nature that makes us dull; and in our attempt to penetrate your truth we are held within the bounds of ignorance by the weakness of our minds. Yet we do comprehend divine ideas by earnest attention to your teaching and by obedience to the faith which carries us beyond mere human apprehension.
So we trust in you to inspire the beginnings of this ambitious venture, to strengthen its progress, and to call us into a partnership in the spirit with the prophets and the apostles. To that end, may we grasp precisely what they meant to say, taking each word in its real and authentic sense. For we are about to say what they already have declared as part of the mystery of revelation: that you are the eternal God, the Father of the eternal, only-begotten God; that you are one and not born from another; and that the Lord Jesus is also one, born of you from all eternity. We must not proclaim a change in truth regarding the number of gods. We must not deny that he is begotten of you who are the one God; nor must we assert that he is other than the true God, born of you who are truly God the Father.
Impart to us, then, the meaning of the words of Scripture and the light to understand it, with reverence for the doctrine and confidence in its truth. Grant that we may express what we believe. Through the prophets and apostles we know about you, the one God the Father, and the one Lord Jesus Christ. May we have the grace, in the face of heretics who deny you, to honor you as God, who is not alone, and to proclaim this as truth.
Let us pray
All-powerful God, as Saint Hilary defended the divinity of Christ your Son, give us a deeper understanding of this mystery and help us to profess it in all truth.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.