St. Hilary of Poiters

Originally published in the bulletin of St. Vincent Ferrer Church, Delray Beach, FL on January 8, 2023

This week, we are going way back to early church history for our Saint of the Week. This is a saint I wish I had known about back when I was a struggling student. My sisters always did all their homework quickly, and got good grades. I didn’t. Maybe I would have done better if I had prayed to St. Hilary of Poiters, who is the patron saint of students who are academically behind in school!

St. Hilary was born a very long time ago, about the year 315, in a place called Poiters, in France. He came from a wealthy family, and was well educated. His family were pagans, and didn’t believe in any god at all. But St. Hilary searched for meaning in life. One day, he found Sacred Scripture. When he read the Gospel of John, particularly John 1:1-14, he discovered Jesus. This changed his whole life.

St. Hilary began to study Christianity, especially the Most Holy Trinity. He was baptized, and spoke to the people about the Trinity. He became a Bishop by the acclaim of the people. (Today, you need to be named a Bishop by the Pope himself; the process was different that long ago.) Now, at that time, theology was developing, and many people had incorrect ideas about the Trinity. One of these beliefs, the heresy (a heresy is when an incorrect idea about God is being taught as if it were true) of Arianism, which said the Christ was not divine and was inferior to God the Father. St. Hilary spoke out against this heresy. At that time, Emperors and Kings had a lot of power over religion, and the Emperor demanded that all the bishops accept the Arianism heresy as true. St. Hilary refused, and he was sent from France to exile in a place called Phrygia, which is in modern-day Turkey. St. Hilary continued to teach the truth about the Trinity, both while he was in Phrygia and when he returned to Poiters.

Hilary wrote many books and papers on the Trinity and other aspects of theology. He was acclaimed as a saint soon after his death, and has been recognized in various Christian churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Church and even in Oriental Orthodoxy. One of his  major works, which is still read today,  is a twelve book compilation called De Trinitate, which means “On the Trinity.” In that book, St. Hilary wrote about his reaction when he first read the Gospel of John: “My soul measured the mighty workings of God, wrought on the scale of His eternal omnipotence . . .by a boundless faith . . .that God was in the beginning with God, and that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .” (De Trinitate 1.12).

St. Hilary died in about 387. His work is believed to have influenced many great theologians of the Church, including St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In 1851, Pope Pius IX proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church. We celebrate his feast day on January 13.