ILARIO of POITIERS. — Born between 310 and 320 at Poitiers into a noble pagan family.
After a restless wandering among pagan philosophies in search of God, he found in the reading of the Old Testament his first light; the Gospel later strengthened him in the faith of Christ. Shortly after receiving Baptism he was elected bishop, around 350, by the unanimous will of the people and clergy, and, although he had a wife and a daughter, he devoted himself entirely to the Church, intervening with uninterrupted activity in the struggle against Arianism and confronting its considerable dangers with a steadfast spirit. In 356 he was in fact exiled by the emperor Constantius to Phrygia; during his exile I. had the opportunity to come into contact with Eastern theologians and to learn their Trinitarian and Christological doctrines, but he was also expelled from Phrygia, because, on account of his tenacious fidelity to orthodoxy and his intolerance of the machinations of the heretics, he was judged to be a disturber of the East. He was sent to Gaul, from where he came to Milan, where he opposed Auxentius, who enjoyed the Emperor’s protection.
Having finally withdrawn to his diocese, he was able to devote himself to his preferred studies and to the commentary on the Psalms, until death overtook him on 1 November 367; in 1851 he was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church.
I. is one of the most notable figures of Western Christianity for having spread the theological doctrines of the East within it, and for having played in the Western world the same role that Athanasius played in the East in the defense against Arianism. Particularly noteworthy is the way in which, before Augustine, he understood the relationship between ratio and fides, affirming the necessity of a balanced use of ratio and fides which, since both proceed from God, do not exclude one another but rather complement each other. The De Trinitate, one of the most complete works to have emerged from the struggle against Arianism, reveals the prudence and love with which I. ascended to the loftiest heights of Christology, now placing his trust in ratio, now surrendering himself to fides. The twelve books of the De Trinitate are conducted in rigorous logical order and are at the same time warmed by the fervent prayer of the theologian, who seeks in God the light and the means to express the profound mysteries of the Trinity. I. is at times more pleasing than Augustine himself, because he avoids as far as possible the arduous academic artifices of Augustinian metaphysics. It is nevertheless regrettable that the reader encounters difficulties in understanding the works of I., who had to bend the Latin language to express subtle theological discussions and difficult Christological problems, which had undergone profound development in the Greek language, far better suited than Latin to the most delicate nuances of thought. Nor had I. been able to find any assistance in the Gallic schools, which at that time were struggling between the weight of tradition and the search for new paths: the writer, aware of his difficulties, in fact often asks God for help, that he may provide him with the means to express the new ideas (De Trim., I, 38; Tractatus super Psalmos, 13, 1).
The judgment that Jerome gives of I. as a writer can still be endorsed today: «Hilarius Gallicano co-thurno adtolitur et, cum Graeciae floribus adornetur, longis interdum periodis involvitur» (Ep. 58, 10).
The obscurity and contortion that are in fact I.’s most serious defects stand out even more in his poetry: the three surviving hymns, obscure, contorted, and tedious, possess the sole merit of having opened the series of Christian hymnography with the intention of countering the poetic activity of the heretics.
His multifaceted activity includes exegetical works: 1) In Matthaeum commentarius (written before 355): in his Trinitarian conceptions I. follows the ideas of Tertullian and Novatian. 2) Tractatus super Psalmos (356): I. follows Origen’s allegorical method with moderation. 3) Tractatus in Iob: only two fragments survive, preserved by Augustine. 4) Liber mysteriorum (365): I. demonstrates that the coming of Christ is announced in every event of the Old Testament.
Dogmatic works: 1) De Trinitate (356), in 12 books: I. demonstrates the consubstantiality of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit against the assertions of the heretics in general and of the Arians and Sabellians in particular. 2) De synodis seu de fide orientalium (358), divided into two parts: in the first I. deals with the decrees of certain Eastern councils; in the second he addresses the question of the terms «homousios» and «homoiusios», adhering to the first term, accepted by the Council of Nicaea, but not entirely rejecting the second (for this reason I. was harshly criticized). 3) Apologetica ad reprohensores libri de synodis responsa (after 358): this is a defense against those who attacked I. for the preceding work; only fragments survive.
Historical and polemical works (Fragmenta historica, Collectanea antiariana Parisina): 1) Opus historicum adversum Valentem et Ursacium (356–67), written in several stages in his own defense against the accusations brought against him at various councils; it contains the Liber primus ad Constantium Augustum. 2) Liber secundus ad Constantium Augustum (359): I. asks to be heard by the Emperor. 3) Liber contra Constantium imperatorem (360): I. inveighs against the Emperor, who denied him the requested audience. 4) Contra Auscentium (364), written after the Council of Milan against the Arian bishop; only fragments survive. 5) Libellus contra Dioscorum medicum ad Sallustium praefectum (360), of which nothing remains.
Hymns: only three authentic ones survive: one on the unity of the Father and the Son (meter: glyconic, minor Asclepiad); a second on the redemption of man (meter: iambic senarii); a third on the Incarnation of Christ (meter: trochaic septenarii).
Letters: they are lost; those reported under his name must be regarded as spurious.