HILTON, WALTER. - English mystic, Augustinian canon of Thurgarton, in Nottinghamshire, d. 24 March 1396. His fame is linked to his treatise or guide to contemplation The scale of perfection (Scala perfectionis).
He was an ardent admirer of the Carthusians, but he never belonged to their Order, as J. Pitts (1619) and S. Cressy (1659) wrongly reported. Fr. Guy took up this hypothesis again in 1869, but H. himself says expressly that he is not a monk. Julian of Norwich (v.) must have known his work, because once or twice she echoes his words. From the beginning of the 15th century some have attributed to him the authorship of the De Imitatione Christi, but this hypothesis is very improbable.
His work was especially praised by St. Thomas More. The Scale had the following editions: 1494, 1507, 1659 (Cressy's edition), 1869 and 1870; it was soon translated into Latin under the title Speculum or Baculus contemplationis by the Carmelite Thomas Fyslave and was much appreciated by the Carthusians. H. also wrote To a devout man in temporal estate and The song of Angels, printed respectively in 1506 and 1521, and the first in 1909 by E. G. Gardner under the title The call of self-knowledge; and other works of lesser importance (cf. Minor works of W. H. edited by Dorothy Jones, London 1929). The Musica Ecclesiastica, at first attributed to him, is made up of the first three books of the De Imitatione Christi. H. is also famous as a writer. His English prose is admirable for its clear, simple, concise and elegant style.
His mystical-theological system is, essentially, that of Richard of St. Victor, simplified. H. sets out the purification of the soul, the mystical dark night, the progress of the soul until it becomes perfect love of Jesus, "perfectly united to him in tenderness of love." The whole work is rich in beauty of thought, in happy documentation and expression, and in that practical wisdom so evident in his To a devout man in temporal estate, which can be compared to the counsels of St. Francis de Sales to those who live in the world.
Bibliography4 works
Enrico Rope