Selected Testimonies of the Ancients Concerning Saint Hilary

Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, was a confessor of the catholic faith.

A certain man, wishing to indicate most briefly the properties of each person in the Trinity, said: Eternity is in the Father, form in the Image, use in the Gift. And because he was a man of no small authority in the treatment of the Scriptures and the assertion of the faith—for it was Hilary who set this down in his books—having searched out the hidden meaning of these words, that is, of Father and Image and Gift and Eternity and Form and Use [lacuna]

Hear yet what may move and trouble you still more, and would that it might change you for the better. Who does not know the venerable bishop Hilary the Gaul, that most fierce defender of the catholic Church against heretics? When he was treating of the flesh of Christ, attend to what he said.

And Book II, Chapter 8, nos. 26, 27, and 28. Hear also the most blessed Hilary, where he places his hope for the perfection of man ... In a certain homily on the book of holy Job, attend to what he says ... In the exposition of the first psalm, the same doctor does not hesitate to say ... A Catholic speaks, an illustrious doctor of the Churches speaks, Hilary speaks.

Cassian, Book VII on the Incarnation, Chapter 24, whose words were transcribed by Alcuin, Book IV against Felix, and by Ratramnus, Spicilegium, vol. 1, p. 335. Hilary, a man of all virtues and ornaments, and as distinguished in eloquence as in life: who, both as teacher of the Churches and as a bishop, grew not only through his own merits but also through the advancement of others; and amid the storms of persecutions stood so immovable that through the strength of his unconquered faith he also began to attain the dignity of Confessor—as he testifies in the first book of the faith.

Tertullian, holding too little to the catholic dogma, that is, to the universal and ancient faith, and far more eloquent than fortunate, thereafter changing his opinion, did at last what the blessed confessor Hilary writes of him in a certain place: By his subsequent error, he says, he detracted authority from his praiseworthy writings.

If therefore, with Hilary also, that most learned bishop and most steadfast confessor [lacuna]

The blessed Hilary, the most powerful and most fierce vanquisher of the Arians, and the most steadfast confessor of the Christian faith, in the letter which he wrote from exile to the bishops of Germania Prima and Germania Secunda and Belgica Prima [lacuna]

Let him dare to find fault with Hilary, the prudent and moderate governor of the Church.

Cassiodorus, Book on the Institutes of Divine Letters, Chapters 17 and 18. Then in that most holy choir of the Fathers you will be able to choose one with whom you may converse most sweetly. It is difficult to say with what frequent occasion, when it presents itself, they powerfully open the holy Scriptures in the most fitting places; so that passing through them suddenly you learn what you recognize you had carelessly passed over. Witnesses are most learned men, distinguished by various praise, by whom, as by shining stars, the heaven of the Church gleams: among whom Saint Hilary, bishop of the city of Poitiers, walks forth, subtle with exceeding depth and a most cautious disputant, reverently bringing forth into the open the deep abysses of the divine Scriptures.

And because Hilary, the highest summit of faith, virtue, and honor,
Was casting the rays of his fame throughout the world,
Duly governing the inner rights of the priesthood,
A terrible trumpet, the tuba of the law, the herald of the Thunderer,
More beautiful than electrum, more ardent than thrice-refined gold,
More abundant than the Eridanus, more rushing than the broad Rhône,
More fruitful than the Nile, more widely scattered than the noble Danube,
Skilled at pouring forth the floods of an overflowing heart,
Watering thirsting breasts from the springs of his genius,
A mind full of the fourfold book of the Gospel,
Pouring from his mouth four new rivers to the world,
The ornament of the Church, a powerful gleaming diadem,
Shining like a fillet in the members of Christ the Head,
Warring in heart, an adamantine topaz in craft,
A mind unshaken in the wrestling-grounds of virtue's work,
Gem-bearing in his words, more radiant in speech than precious stones,
An apostolic teacher emptying sophists by reason,
Forming followers by doctrine, light, and faith, and virtue.
Since he was grievous to his enemies and could not be overcome,
He is led into exile, where far-stretching Seleucia extends.
And with the King's aid the soldier seeks his rewards from there,
In whose absence wandering Gaul yields to error,
And the region totters, so great a tower being moved.
When Martin learned of this with all haste, thereupon
He established a cell beneath the height of Milan

Hilary of Poitiers, bishop, lies in this urn,
The formidable defender of our faith.

Serpents could not endure the sight of him:
I know not what darts the Saint carries in his countenance.

Father Hilary the bishop adorns this altar,
Known far throughout the world, a pious teacher everywhere.
He is remembered as victor by his merits at this altar,
A renowned soldier, mighty in arms bestowed upon him.

Hincmar, On Predestination, Chapter 3. Saint Leo, for the confirmation of the Council of Chalcedon, numbers the testimonies of the same blessed Hilary even among the first examples of catholic doctors; and blessed Gelasius counts him, together with Saint Augustine and Cyprian and Leo and Jerome, as most received in the catalogue of ecclesiastical and illustrious writers. But also concerning him, as is well known, it is said by a most well-known authority: Hilary the bishop, the light-bearer of the Romans, the lantern of the Churches and a precious lamp, speaks all things with a beautiful and golden mouth.

And Chapter 25. The blessed Hilary, a catholic doctor, who on account of his excellent doctrine is called the light-bearer of the Romans.

Fulbert of Chartres, Epistle XXI to Abbo. You too have forsaken us, holy father Hilary, who once defended the unity of the Church with the sword of the Holy Spirit.

From the Sacramentary of the Royal Library, 386, in which the Nicene Creed stands without the addition of filioque, on the Kalends of November, the Nativity of Saint Hilary. Let us beseech the Lord with more abundant vows for the adorable solemnity of the most blessed bishop Hilary, returning in solemn recurrence, whose tongue thundered in the world for the equality of the holy Trinity in such a way that he, a soldier of Christ, cast down the prince of this world and entered as victor into the court of the heavenly King; that he who made him so zealous amid diverse battles as to render him secure amid wars, may deign to grant us that what we ask in his honor we may obtain through his intercession.

It is truly meet and just to give thanks, to fulfill vows, to consecrate offerings, O holy Lord, almighty and eternal God, who didst choose the blessed Hilary, thy confessor, to be the bishop of thy sacred confession, gleaming with great light, powerful in gentleness of character, burning with fervor of faith, rushing with the fountain of eloquence: whose glory is shown by the throng at his tomb, the purification of those beset, the healing of the sick, the signs of wondrous virtues. Who, though here by nature he made an end through passing away, there the merits of the Bishop live on after burial, where the presence of the Savior is, Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is truly meet and just, eternal God, who didst fill the blessed Hilary, thy confessor, with the teachings of knowledge and didst enrich him with the ornaments of virtues; whom thou didst imbue with manifold piety in such a way that he himself was for thee both altar and sacrifice and priest and temple, through Christ.

O God, by whose mercy sinners are changed unto pardon and the just are transferred unto the palm of victory, who, poured into the heart of the blessed bishop Hilary, didst give answers of faith as if from thy temple, graciously grant that he who then made thy illustrious Confessor unafraid of Caesar may, through his intercession, protect from the spiritual enemy the people who beseech thee, so that those who rejoice in his solemnity may be faithfully defended by his prayer.

Creator of the universe and reformer of the human race, grant, we beseech thee, almighty God, to our prayers, that we who marvel at what we venerate in the Doctor may deserve in the gift that we may please thee; and as thou didst give to the blessed Hilary, thy confessor and bishop, give to thy Church concord and glorious remembrance; that through his obtaining it, our sacrifice may be made acceptable to thee by his merits.

Grant, we beseech thee, almighty God, that the excellence of thy word, which the blessed Hilary, glorious confessor, asserted, we may be able both fittingly to understand and truly to confess.

O God, founder of the faith, bestower of the priesthood, gathering of the people, sanctification of the confessor, who didst arm the blessed Hilary with this virtue, that he might serve thee in the faith, grant to this household that he be an intercessor for them whom they venerate with vows as a bishop in the faith. Amen. May he who then stood as an assertor against heretics on thy behalf be a suppliant before thee for us; that, with thee granting the reward, the people may grow without number, as the priest labored in the faith. May he bless you. Amen. The same. Amen.