Confessor Hilary

Hilary of Poitiers, known in Latin as Hilarius Pictaviensis and often styled a confessor of the faith, was a fourth-century bishop of Poitiers in Roman Gaul and one of the principal Latin defenders of Nicene orthodoxy against Arianism. He was born in the early fourth century at Pictavium (modern Poitiers) to a family of local standing that still followed traditional Roman religion. He received a classical education in Latin letters and philosophy. As a young adult he married and had at least one child, a daughter named Abra, who is remembered in later tradition as a consecrated virgin. Through reading the Scriptures, especially the opening of the Gospel of John, he became convinced of Christian teaching and received baptism in adulthood rather than in infancy.

Around the middle of the fourth century the Christians of Poitiers chose him as their bishop, an election notable because he was a married convert rather than a career cleric. He soon emerged as a firm opponent of Arian theology, which denied the full divinity of the Son. When the emperor Constantius II pressed Western bishops to condemn Athanasius of Alexandria and to accept compromise formulas, Hilary refused. About 356 he was deposed by an Arian-leaning synod at Béziers and exiled to Phrygia in Asia Minor. The years of exile proved intellectually fruitful: he learned Greek, studied Eastern theology, and wrote his principal dogmatic work, the twelve books De Trinitate, a sustained Latin argument for the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father. He also addressed historical and polemical tracts to the emperor and sought, not always successfully, to interpret Eastern homoiousian positions for Western Nicenes.

Permitted to return to Gaul about 360, Hilary resumed his see and continued to oppose Arian bishops, including Auxentius of Milan. He cooperated with Eusebius of Vercelli and other Nicene leaders in restoring orthodox teaching in the West. Besides De Trinitate he left a Commentary on Matthew, Tractates on the Psalms, and a small body of hymns that rank among the earliest surviving Latin Christian hymns. Ancient writers such as Jerome and Sulpicius Severus praised his learning and constancy. He died at Poitiers in the late 360s; Jerome’s Chronicle places the death in 367.

Veneration of Hilary began soon after his death. A basilica, later known as Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand, was built over his tomb at Poitiers and became a major pilgrimage church. Venantius Fortunatus in the sixth century composed verse in his honor, and his cult spread through Gaul and beyond. In 1851 Pope Pius IX declared him a Doctor of the Church. The Roman liturgy long kept his feast on 14 January; since 1969 it has been observed on 13 January. He is venerated in Eastern as well as Western calendars as a confessor and as a principal Latin witness to the Nicene faith.