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St. Hilary of Poitiers
IV Century
Born c. 315, St. Hilary was the son of wealthy pagans who was thoroughy
educated in philosophy, especially that of the Neo-Platonists, before his
conversion to Christianity c. 350. Hilary, although married, was elected
bishop of Poitiers c. 353.
Emperor Constantius II
exiled him for refusing
to condemn Athanasius at the Arian-dominated Council of Béziers (356). In
Phrygia, Hilary studied Greek theology and wrote
De trinitate (On the
Trinity),
which introduced Eastern theology to the Western church.
Returned to his see in 360, Hilary travelled four years later to Milan to
debate its Arian bishop, Auxentius. Hilary neither converted nor ousted
him. Hilary, who died c. 367/368, was also a hymnographer. He wrote songs
to proclaim his theology, as he had learned in the east and as he had seen
the Arians do. Among Hilary's other works are
De synodis, a history of the
Arian debates, and commentary on the Psalms and Matthew. Hilary's
exegetical style is Antiochene and often follows Origen's. Pius IX named
Hilary, whose style and thought Augustine and Jerome praised, a doctor of
the Roman Catholic church.
Karen Rae Keck
- ABOUT:
- Hanns Christof Brennecke:
Hilarius von Poitiers und die Bischofsopposition gegen Konstantius II,
(1984).
Berlin: de Gruyter, 1984.
- WORKS:
- Epistolæ.
- To Constantius II.
-
Letter to the Emperor Constantius.
Translated by L. R. Wickham in his
Hilary of Poitiers, Conflicts of Conscience
and Law in the Fourth-Century Church.
(Liverpool Univ., 1997).
-
Against Valens and Ursacius.
Translated by L. R. Wickham in his
Hilary of Poitiers, Conflicts of Conscience
and Law in the Fourth-Century Church.
(Liverpool Univ., 1997).
-
On the Councils, or the Faith of the Easterns:
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Homily on Psalm 1:
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Homily on Psalm 53(54):
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Homily on Psalm 130(131):
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NA
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On the Trinity:
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