HILARY 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 his first light in the reading of the Old Testament; 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 the 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, facing its no small risks with a strong spirit. In 356 he was in fact exiled by the emperor Constantius to Phrygia; in exile H. had the opportunity to have contacts with Eastern theologians and to become acquainted with their Trinitarian and Christological doctrines, but he was also removed from Phrygia, because he was judged, for his tenacious fidelity to orthodoxy and for his impatience with the machinations of the heretics, a disturber of the East. He was sent to Gaul, whence he came to Milan, where he clashed with Auxentius, who enjoyed the Emperor's protection.
Having finally withdrawn to his diocese, he was able to devote himself to his favorite studies and to the commentary on the Psalms, until death overtook him on 1 November 367; in 1851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.
H. is one of the most remarkable figures of Western Christianity for having spread in it the theological doctrines of the East, and for having carried out in the Western world the same role that Athanasius carried out in the East in the defense against Arianism. Worthy of note is the way in which he saw, before Augustine, the relations between ratio and fides, affirming the necessity of a balanced use of ratio and fides which, since both come from God, do not exclude each other but rather complement each other. The De Trinitate, one of the most complete works among those that sprang from the struggle against Arianism, reveals the prudence and the love with which precisely H. ascended to the most exalted heights of Christology, now trusting in ratio, now abandoning himself to fides. The twelve books of the De Trinitate are conducted with rigorous logical order and are at the same time warmed by the anxious prayer of the theologian, who seeks in God the light and the means to express the grave mysteries of the Trinity. H. at times succeeds more pleasingly than Augustine himself, because he shuns as much as he can the arduous academic artifices of Augustinian metaphysics. One must regret, however, the difficulties that the reader encounters in understanding the works of H., who had to bend the Latin language to express subtle theological disquisitions and arduous Christological problems, which had received profound development in the Greek language, far better suited than Latin to the most delicate nuances of thought. Nor could H. find any help 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 so 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 H. as a writer can still be subscribed to today: «Hilarius Gallicano cothurno adtolitur et, cum Graeciae floribus adornetur, longis interdum periodis involvitur» (Ep. 58, 10).
The obscurity and the contortion, which are in fact the most serious defects of H., stand out even more in his poems: the three hymns that remain, obscure, contorted, tedious, have the sole merit of having opened the series of Christian hymnography with the aim of opposing the poetic activity of the heretics.
His manifold activity comprises: exegetical works: 1) In Matthaeum commentarius (written before 355): for Trinitarian conceptions H. follows the ideas of Tertullian and Novatian. 2) Tractatus super Psalmos (356): H. follows with moderation the allegorical method of Origen. 3) Tractatus in Iob: only two fragments survive, preserved by Augustine. 4) Liber mysteriorum (365): H. demonstrates that in every event of the Old Testament the coming of Christ is announced.
Dogmatic works: 1) De Trinitate (356), in 12 books: H. demonstrates the consubstantiality of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit against the affirmations 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 H. 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 H. was harshly criticized). 3) Apologetica ad reprohensores libri de synodis responsa (after 358): it is a defense against those who attacked H. on account of the preceding work; only fragments of it survive.
Historical and polemical works (Fragmenta historica, Collectanea antiariana Parisina): 1) Opus historicum adversum Valentem et Ursacium (356-67), written at various times in his own defense against the accusations brought against him in various councils; it contains the Liber primus ad Constantium Augustum. 2) Liber secundus ad Constantium Augustum (359): H. asks to be heard by the Emperor. 3) Liber contra Constantium imperatorem (360): H. inveighs against the Emperor, who has denied him the requested interview. 4) Contra Auscentium (364), written after the Council of Milan against the Arian bishop; only fragments of it survive. 5) Libellus contra Dioscorum medicum ad Sallustium praefectum (360), of which nothing remains.
Hymns: of the authentic ones only three remain: one on the unity of the Father and of the Son (meter: glyconic, lesser 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 considered spurious.
Bibliography21 works
Emanuele Rapisarda