January XIV

St. Hilary, Bishop

From his own writings, and the histories of that age, which furnish the most authentic memoirs of his life. See what Dom Coutant, the Benedictin monk, has recorded of him in his excellent edition of his works; as also Tillemont, t. 7, Cellier, t. 5, and Rivet, Hist. Lit. t. 1, part 2, p. 139. The two books, the one of his life, the other of his miracles, by Fortunatus of Poictiers, 600, are inaccurate. Both the Fortunatuses were from Italy; and probably one was the author of the first, and the other of the second book.

A. D. 368.

St. Austin, who often urges the authority of St. Hilary against the Pelagians, styles him the illustrious doctor of the churches.¹ St. Jerom says² that he was a most eloquent man, and the trumpet of the Latins against the Arians; and in another place, that in St. Cyprian and St. Hilary, God had transplanted two fair cedars out of the world into his church.³

St. Hilary was born at Poictiers, and his family one of the most illustrious in Gaul.⁴ He spent his youth in the study of eloquence. He himself testifies that he was brought up in idolatry, and gives us a particular account of the steps by which God conducted him to the knowledge of his saving faith.⁵ He considered by the glimmering or faint light of reason, that man, who is created a moral and free agent, is placed in this world for the exercise of patience, temperance, and other virtues, which he saw must receive from God a recompense after this life. He ardently set about learning what God is; and after some researches into the nature of the Supreme Being, quickly discovered the absurdity of polytheism, or a prutality of gods; and was convinced that there can be only one God, and that he same is eternal, unchangeable, all-powerful, the first cause and author of all things. Full of these reflections, he met with the holy scriptures, and was wonderfully affected with that just and sublime description Moses gives of God in those words, so expressive of his self-existence,⁶ I am who am: and was no less struck with the idea of his immensity and supreme dominion, illustrated by the most lively images in the inspired language of the prophets. The reading of the New Testament put an end to, and completed his inquiries; and he learned from the first chapter of St. John, that the Divine Word, God the Son, is coeternal and consubstantial with the Father. Here he checked his natural curiosity, avoided subtilties, and submitted his understanding to divine revelation, resolving what seemed incomprehensible into the veracity and power of God; and not presuming to measure divine mysteries by his shallow capacity. Being thus brought to the knowledge of faith, he received the heavenly regeneration by baptism From that time forth he so squared his whole life by the rules of piety, and so zealous were his endeavors to confirm others in the faith of the holy Trinity, and to encourage all to virtue, that he seemed, though a layman, already to possess the grace of the priesthood.

He was married before his conversion to the faith; and his wife, by whom he had a daughter named Apra, or Abram, was yet living, when he was chosen bishop of Poictiers, about the year 353; but from the time of his ordination he lived in perpetual continency.* He omitted no endeavors to escape this promotion: but his humility only made the people the more earnest to see him vested with that dignity; and indeed their expectations were not frustrated in him, for his eminent virtue and capacity shone forth with such a lustre, as soon drew upon him the attention, not only of all Gaul, but of the whole church. Soon after he was raised to the episcopal dignity he composed, before his exile, elegant comments on the gospel of Saint Matthew, which are still extant. Those on the Psalms he compiled after his banishment.⁷ Of these comments on the Psalms, and on St. Matthew, we are chiefly to understand St. Jerom, when he recommends, in a particular manner, the reading of the works of St. Hilary to virgins and devout persons.⁸ From that time the Arian controversy chiefly employed his pen. He was an excellent orator and poet. His style is lofty and noble, beautified with rhetorical ornaments and figures, but somewhat studied; and the length of his periods renders him sometimes obscure to the unlearned,^† as St. Jerom takes notice.⁹ It is observed by Dr. Cave, that all his writings breathe an extraordinary vein of piety. Saint Hilary solemnly appeals to God,¹⁰ that he held it as the great work of his life, to employ all his faculties to announce God to the world, and to excite all men to the love of him. He earnestly recommends the practice of beginning every action and discourse by prayer,^‡ and some act of divine praise;¹¹ as also to meditate on the law of God day and night, to pray without ceasing, by performing all our actions with a view to God their ultimate end, and to his glory.¹² He breathes a sincere and ardent desire of martyrdom, and discovers a soul fearless of death and torments. He had the greatest veneration for truth, sparing no pains in its pursuit, and dreading no dangers in its defence.

The emperor Constantius, having labored for several years to compel the eastern churches to embrace Arianism, came into the West: and after the overthrow of the tyrant Magnentius, made some stay at Arles, while his Arian bishops held a council there, in which they engaged Saturninus, the impious bishop of that city, in their party, in 353. A bolder Arian council at Milan, in 355, held during the residence of the emperor in that city, required all to sign the condemnation of St. Athanasius. Such as refused to comply were banished; among whom were St. Eusebius of Vercelli, Lucifer of Cagliari, and St. Dionysius of Milan, into whose see Auxentius, the Arian, was intruded. St. Hilary wrote on that occasion his first book to Constantius, in which he mildly entreated him to restore peace to the church. He separated himself from the three Arian bishops in the West, Ursacius, Valens, and Saturninus, and exhibited an accusation against the last in a synod at Beziers. But the emperor, who had information of the matter from Saturninus, sent un order to Julian, then Cæsar, and surnamed afterwards the Apostate, who at that time commanded in Gaul, for St. Hilary’s immediate banishment into Phrygia, together with St. Rhodanius, bishop of Toulouse. The bishops in Gaul being almost all orthodox, remained in communion with St. Hilary, and would not suffer the intrusion of any one into his see, which in his absence he continued to govern by his priests. The saint went into banishment about the middle of the year 356, with as great alacrity as another would take a journey of pleasure, and never entertained the least disquieting thought of hardships, dangers, or enemies, having a soul above both the smiles and frowns of the world, and fixed only on God. He remained in exile somewhat upwards of three years, which time he employed in composing several learned works. The principal and most esteemed of these is that On the Trinity, against the Arians, in twelve books. In them he proves the consubstantiality of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He teaches that the church is one, out of which all heresies spring; out that by this she is distinguished, as standing always one, always alone against them all, and confounding them all: whereas they by perpetual divisions tear each other in pieces, and so become the subject of her triumph.¹³ He proves that Arianism cannot be the faith of Christ, because not revealed to St. Peter, upon whom the church was built and secured forever; for whose faith Christ prayed, that it might never fail; who received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whose judiciary sentence on earth is that of heaven:¹⁴ all which arguments he frequently urges.¹⁵ He proves the divinity of Christ by the miracles wrought at the sepulchres of the apostles and martyrs, and by their relics: for the devils themselves confess Christ’s godhead, and roar and flee at the presence of the venerable bones of his servants,¹⁶ which he also mentions and urges in his invective against Constantius.¹⁷ In 358, he wrote his book On Synods, or On the Faith of the Orientals. to explain the terms and variation of the eastern Arians in their synods.

In his exile he was informed that his daughter Apra, whom he had left on Gaul, had thoughts of embracing the married state; upon which he implored Christ, with many tears, to bestow on her the precious jewel of virginity. He sent her a letter that is still extant, in which he acquaints her, that if she contemned all earthly things, spouse, sumptuous garments, and riches, Christ had prepared for her, and had shown unto him, at his prayers and tears, an inestimable never-fading diamond, infinitely more precious than she was able to frame to herself an idea of. He conjures her by the God of heaven, and entreats her not to make void his anxiety for her, nor to deprive herself of so incomparable a good. Fortunatus assures us that the original letter was kept with veneration in the church of Poictiers, in the sixth century, when he wrote, and that Apra followed his advice, and died happily at his feet after his return.* St. Hilary sent to her with this letter two hymns, composed by himself; one for the evening, which does not seem to have reached our times; the other for the morning, which is the hymn Lucis largiton splendide.

The emperor, by an unjust usurpation in the affairs of the Church, assembled a council of Arians at Seleucia, in Isauria, to undermine the great council of Nice. St. Hilary, who had then passed four years in banishment, in Phrygia, was invited thither by the Semi-Arians, who hoped from his lenity that he would be useful to their party in crushing the stanch Arians, that is, those who adhered strictly to the doctrine of Arius. But no human considerations could daunt his courage. He boldly defended the decrees of Nice, till at last, tired out with hearing the blasphemies of the heretics, he withdrew to Constantinople. The weak emperor was the dupe sometimes of the Arians, and at other times of the Semi-Arians. These last prevailed at Seleucia, in September, 359, as the former did in a council held at Constantinople in the following year, 360, where having the advantage, they procured the banishment of the Semi-Arians, less wicked than themselves. St. Hilary, who had withdrawn from Seleucia to Constantinople, presented to the emperor a request, called his second book to Constantius, begging the liberty of holding a public disputation about religion with Saturninus, the author of his banishment. He presses him to receive the unchangeable apostolic faith, injured by the late innovations, and smartly rallies the fickle humor of the heretics, who were perpetually making new creeds, and condemning their old ones, having made four within the compass of the foregoing year; so that faith was become that of the times, not that of the gospels, and that there were as many faiths as men, as great a variety of doctrine as of manners, as many blasphemies as vices.¹⁸ He complains that they had their yearly and monthly faiths; that they made creeds to condemn and repent of them; and that they formed new ones to anathematize those that adhered to their old ones. He adds, that every one had scripture texts, and the words Apostolic Faith, in their mouths, for no other end than to impose on weak minds: for by attempting to change faith, which is unchangeable, faith is lost; they correct and amend, till weary of all, they condemn all. He therefore exhorts them to return to the haven from which the gusts of their party spirit and prejudice had driver them, as the only means to be delivered out of their tempestuous and perilous confusion. The issue of this challenge was, that the Arians, dreading such a trial, persuaded the emperor to rid the East of a man that never ceased to disturb its peace, by sending him back into Gaul; which he did, but without reversing the sentence of his banishment, in 360.

St. Hilary returned through Illyricum and Italy to confirm the weak. He was received at Poictiers with the greatest demonstrations of joy and triumph, where his old disciple, St. Martin, rejoined him, to pursue the exercises of piety under his direction. A synod in Gaul, convoked at the instance of St. Hilary, condemned that of Rimini, which, in 359, had omitted the word Consubstantial. Saturninus, proving obstinate, was excommunicated and deposed for his heresy and other crimes. Scandals were removed, discipline, peace, and purity of faith were restored, and piety flourished. The death of Constantius put an end to the Arian persecution. St. Hilary was the mildest of men, full of condescension and affability to all: yet seeing this behavior ineffectual, he composed an invective against Constantius, in which he employed severity, and the harshest terms; and for which undoubtedly he had reasons that are unknown to us. This piece did not appear abroad till after the death of that emperor. Our saint undertook a journey to Milan, in 364, against Auxentius, the Arian usurper of that see, and in a public disputation obliged him to confess Christ to be true God, of the same substance and divinity with the Father. St. Hilary indeed saw through his hypocrisy; but this dissembling heretic imposed so far on the emperor Valentinian, as to pass for orthodox. Our saint died at Poictiers, in the year 368, on the thirteenth of January, or on the first of November, for his name occurs in very ancient Martyrologies on both these days. In the Roman breviary his office is celebrated on the fourteenth of January. The one is probably that of some translation of his relics. The first was made at Poictiers in the reign of Clovis l., on which see Cointe.¹⁹ From St. Gregory of Tours, it appears that before his time some part of St. Hilary’s relics was honored in a church in Limousin.²⁰ Alcuin mentions the veneration of the same at Poictiers;²¹ and it is related that his relics were burned by the Huguenots at Poictiers.²² But this we must understand of some small portion, or of the dust remaining in his tomb. For his remains were translated from Poictiers to the abbey of St. Denys, near Paris, as is proved by the tradition of that abbey, a writer of the abbey of Richenow, in the ninth century,²³ and other monuments.²⁴ Many miracles performed by St. Hilary are related by Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Poictiers, and are the subject of a whole book added to his life, which seems to have been written by another Fortunatus. St. Gregory of Tours, Flodoard and others, have mentioned several wrought at his tomb. Dom Coutant, the most judicious and learned Maurist monk, has given an accurate edition of his works, in one volume in folio, at Paris, in 1693, which was reprinted at Verona by the Marquis Scipio Maffei, in 1730, together with additional comments on several Psalms.

St. Hilary observes, that singleness of heart is the most necessary condition of faith and true virtue, “For Christ teaches that only those who become again as it were little children, and by the simplicity of that age cut off the inordinate affections of vice, can enter the kingdom of heaven. These follow and obey their father, love their mother; are strangers to covetousness, ill-will, hatred, arrogance, and lying, and are inclined easily to believe what they hear. This disposition of affections opens the way to heaven. We must therefore return to the simplicity of little children, in which we shall bear some resemblance to our Lord’s humility.”²⁵ This, in the language of the Holy Ghost, is called the foolishness of the cross of Christ,²⁶ in which consists true wisdom. That prudence of the flesh and worldly wisdom, which is the mother of self-sufficiency, pride, avarice, and vicious curiosity, the source of infidelity, and the declared enemy of the spirit of Christ, is banished by this holy simplicity; and in its stead are obtained true wisdom, which can only be found in a heart freed from the clouds of the passions, perfect prudence, which, as St. Thomas shows, is the fruit of the assemblage of all virtues, and a divine light which grace fails not to infuse This simplicity, which is the mother of Christian discretion, is a stranger to all artifice, design, and dissimulation, to all views or desires of self-interest, and to all undue respect or consideration of creatures. All its desires and views are reduced to this alone, of attaining to the perfect union with God. Unfeignedly to desire this one thing, to belong to God alone, to arrive at his pure love, and to do his will in all things, is that simplicity or singleness of heart of which we speak, and which banishes all inordinate affections of the heart, from which arise the most dangerous errors of the understanding. This is the essential disposition of every one who sincerely desires to live by the spirit of Christ. That divine spouse of souls, loves to communicate himself to such.²⁷ His conversation (or as another version has it, his secret) is with the simple.²⁸ His delight is in those who walk with simplicity.²⁹ This is the characteristic of all the saints:³⁰ whence the Holy Ghost cries out, Approach him not with a double heart.³¹ That worldly wisdom is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be.³² Its intoxication blinds men, and shuts their eyes to the light of divine revelation. They arrogate to themselves the exclusive privilege of learning and clear understanding but the skepticism, the pitiful inconsistencies, and monstrous extravagances, which characterize their writings and discourses, make us blush to see so strong an alliance of ignorance and presumption; and lament that the human mind should be capable of falling into a state of so deplorable degeneracy. Among the fathers of the church we admire men the most learned of their age, the most penetrating and most judicious, and at the same time the most holy and sincere; who, being endowed with true simplicity of heart, discovered in the mysteries of the cross the secrets of infinite wisdom which they made their study, and the rule of their actions.

St. Felix Of Nola, P. And C.

It is observed by the judicious Tillemont, with regard to the life of this saint, that we might doubt of its wonderful circumstances, were they not supported by the authority of a Paulinus; but that great miracles ought to be received with the greater veneration, when authorized by incontestable vouchers.

St. Felix was a native of Nola, a Roman colony in Campania, fourteen miles from Naples, where his father Hermias, who was by birth a Syrian, and had served in the army, had purchased an estate and settled himself. He had two sons, Felix and Hermias, to whom at his death he left his patrimony. The younger sought preferment in the world among the lovers of vanity, by following the profession of arms, which at that time was the surest road to riches and honors. Felix, to become in effect what his name in Latin imported, that is, happy, resolved to follow no other standard than that of the King of kings, Jesus Christ. For this purpose, despising all earthly things, lest the love of them might entangle his soul, he distributed the better part of his substance among the poor, and was ordained Reader, Exorcist, and, lastly, Priest, by Maximus, the holy bishop of Nola; who, charmed with his sanctity and prudence, made him his principal support in those times of trouble, and designed him for his successor.¹

In the year 250, the emperor Decius raised a bloody persecution against the church. Maximus, seeing himself principally aimed at, retired into the deserts, not through the fear of death, which he desired, but rather not to tempt God by seeking it, and to preserve himself for the service of his flock. The persecutors not finding him, seized on Felix, who, in his absence, was very vigilant in the discharge of all his pastoral duties. The governor caused him to be scourged; then loaded with bolts and chains about his neck, hands, and legs, and cast into a dungeon, in which, as St. Prudentius informs us,² the floor was spread all over with potsherds and pieces of broken glass so that there was no place free from them, on which the saint could either stand or lie. One night an angel appearing in great glory, filled the prison with a bright light, and bade St. Felix go and assist his bishop, who was in great distress. The confessor, seeing his chains fall off, and the doors open, followed his guide, and was conducted by heaven to the place where Maximus lay, almost perished with hunger and cold, speechless, and without sense: for, through anxiety for his flock, and the hardships of his solitary retreat, he had suffered more than a martyrdom. Felix, not being able to bring him to himself, had recourse to prayer; and discovering thereupon a bunch of grapes within reach, he squeezed some of the juice into his mouth, which had the desired effect. The good bishop no sooner beheld his friend Felix, but he embraced him, and begged to be conveyed back to his church. The saint, taking him on his shoulders, carried him to his episcopal house in the city, before day appeared, where a pious ancient woman took care of him.³

Felix, with the blessing of his pastor, repaired secretly to his own lodgings, and there kept himself concealed, praying for the church without ceasing till peace was restored to it by the death of Decius, in the year 251 He no sooner appeared again in public, but his zeal so exasperated the pagans that they came armed to apprehend him; but though they met him they knew him not; they even asked him where Felix was, a question he did not think proper to give a direct answer to. The persecutors going a little further, perceived their mistake, and returned; but the saint in the mean time had stepped a little out of the way, and crept through a hole in a ruinous old wall, which was instantly closed up by spiders’ webs. His enemies never imagining any thing could have lately passed where they saw so close a spider’s web, after a fruitless search elsewhere, returned in the evening without their prey. Felix finding among the ruins, between two houses, an old well half dry, hid himself in it for six months; and received during that time wherewithal to subsist by means of a devout Christian woman. Peace being restored to the church by the death of the emperor, the saint quitted his retreat, and was received in the city as an angel sent from heaven.

Soon after, St. Maximus dying, all were unanimous for electing Felix bishop; but he persuaded the people to make choice of Quintus, because the older priest of the two, having been ordained seven days before him. Quintus, when bishop, always respected St. Felix as his father, and followed his advice in every particular. The remainder of the saint’s estate having been confiscated in the persecution, he was advised to lay claim to it, as others had done, who thereby recovered what had been taken from them. His answer was, that in poverty he should be the more secure of possessing Christ.⁴ He could not even be prevailed upon to accept what the rich offered him. He rented a little spot of barren land, not exceeding three acres, which he tilled with his own hands, in such manner as to receive his subsistence from it, and to have something left for alms. Whatever was bestowed on him, he gave it immediately to the poor. If he had two coats he was sure to give them the better; and often exchanged his only one for the rags of some beggar. He died in a good old age, on the fourteenth of January, on which day the Martyrology, under the name of St. Jerom, and all others of later date mention him. Five churches have been built at, or near the place where he was first interred, which was without the precinct of the city of Nola. His precious remains are at present kept in the cathedral; but certain portions are at Rome, Benevento, and some other places. Pope Damasus, in a pilgrimage which he made from Rome to Nola, to the shrine of this saint, professes, in a short poem which he composed in acknowledgment, that he was miraculously cured of a distemper through his intercession.

St. Paulinus, a Roman senator in the fifth age, forty-six years after the death of St. Damasus, came from Spain to Nola, desirous of being porter in the church of St. Felix. He testifies that crowds of pilgrims came from Rome, from all other parts of Italy, and more distant countries, to visit his sepulchre on his festival: he adds, that all brought some present or other to his church, as wax-candles to burn at his tomb, precious ointments, costly ornaments, and such like; but that for his part, he offered to him the homage of his tongue, and himself, though an unworthy victim.⁵ He everywhere expresses his devotion to this saint in the warmest and strongest terms, and believes that all the graces he received from heaven were conferred on him through the intercession of St. Felix. To him he addressed himself in all his necessities; by his prayers he begged grace in this life, and glory after death⁶ He describes at large the holy pictures of the whole history of the Old Testament, which were hung up in the church of St. Felix, and which inflamed all who beheld them, and were as so many books that instructed the ignorant. We may read with pleasure the plous sentiments the sight of each gave St. Paulinus.⁷ He relates a great number of miracles that were wrought at his tomb, as of persons cured of various distempers and delivered from dangers by his intercession, to several of which he was are eye-witness. He testifies that he himself had frequently experienced the most sensible effects of his patronage, and, by having recourse to him, had been speedily succored.⁸ St. Austin also has given an account of many miracles performed at his shrine.⁹ It was not formerly allowed to bury any corpse within the walls of cities. The church of St. Felix, out of the walls of Nola, not being comprised under this prohibition, many devout Christians sought to be buried in it, that their faith and devotion might recommend them after death to the patronage of this holy confessor, upon which head St. Paulinus consulted St. Austin. The holy doctor answered him by his book, On the care for the dead: in which he shows that the faith and devotion of such persons would be available to them after death, as the suffrages and good works of the living in behalf of the faithful departed are profitable to the latter. See the poems of St. Paulinus on his life, confirmed by other authentic ancient records, quoted by Tillemont, t. 4, p. 226, and Ruinart, Acta Sincera, p. 256; Muratori, Anecd. Lat.

SS. Isaias, Sabbas,

And thirty-eight other holy solitaries on mount Sinai, martyred by a troop of Arabians in 273; likewise Paul, the abbot; Moses, who by his preaching and miracles had converted to the faith the Ishmaelites of Pharan; Psaes, a prodigy of austerity, and many other hermits in the desert of Raithe, two days’ journey from Sinai, near the Red Sea, were massacred the same year by the Blemmyans, a savage infidel nation of Ethiopia. All these anchorets lived on dates, or other fruits, never tasted bread, worked at making baskets in cells at a considerable distance from each other, and met on Saturdays, in the evening, in one common church, where they watched and said the night office, and on the Sunday received together the holy eucharist. They were remarkable for their assiduity in praying and fasting. See their acts by Ammonius, an eye-witness, published by F. Combefis; also Bulteau, Hist. Mon. d’Orient, l. 2, c. 1, p. 209.

Also, many holy anchorets on mount Sinai, whose lives were faithful copies of Christian perfection, and who met on Sundays to receive the holy eucharist, were martyred by a band of Saracens in the fifth century. A boy of fourteen years of age led among them an ascetic life of great perfection. The Saracens threatened to kill him, if he did not discover where the ancient monks had concealed themselves. He answered, that death did not terrify him, and that he could not ransom his life by a sin in betraying his fathers. They bade him put off his clothes: “After you have killed me,” said the modest youth, “take my clothes and welcome: but as I never saw my body naked, have so much compassion and regard for my sham facedness, as to let me die covered.” The barbarians, enraged at this answer, fell on him with all their weapons at once, and the pious youth died by as many martyrdoms as he had executioners. St. Nilus, who had been formerly governor of Constantinople, has left us an account of this massacre in seven narratives: at that time he led an eremitical life in those deserts, and had placed his son Theodulus in this holy company. He was carried away captive, but redeemed after many dangers. See S. Nili, Septem Narrationes: also, Bulteau, Hist. Mon. d’Orient, 1. 2, c. 2, p. 220.

S. Barbasceminus,

and sixteen of his clergy, mm

He succeeded his brother St. Sadoth in the metropolitical see of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, in 342, which he held six years. Being accused as an enemy to the Persian religion, and as one who spoke against the Persian divinities, Fire and Water, he was apprehended, with sixteen of his clergy, by the orders of king Sapor II. The king seeing his threats lost upon him, confined him almost a year in a loathsome dungeon, in which he was often tormented by the Magians with scourges, clubs, and tortures, besides the continual annoyance of stench, filth, hunger, and thirst. After eleven months the prisoners were again brought before the king. Their bodies were disfigured by their torments, and their faces discolored by a blackish hue which they had contracted. Sapor held out to the bishop a golden cup as a present, in which were a thousand sineas of gold, a coin still in use among the Persians. Besides this he promised him a government, and other great offices, if he would suffer himself to be initiated in the rites of the sun. The saint replied that he could not answer the reproaches of Christ at the last day, if he should prefer gold, or a whole empire, to his holy law; and that he was ready to die. He received his crown by the sword, with his companions, on the 14th of January, in the year 346, and of the reign of king Sapor II. the thirty-seventh, at Ledan, in the province of the Huzites. St. Maruthas, the author of his acts, adds, that Sapor, resolving to extinguish utterly the Christian name in his empire, published a new terrible edict, whereby he commanded every one to be tortured and put to death who should refuse to adore the sun, to worship fire and water, and to feed on the blood of living creatures.* The see of Seleucia remained vacant twenty years, and innumerable martyrs watered all the provinces of Persia with their blood. St. Maruthas was not able to recover their names, by has left us a copious panegyric on their heroic deeds, accompanied with the warmest sentiments of devotion, and desires to be speedily united with them in glory. See Acta Mart. Orient. per Steph. Assemani, t. 1, p. 3.

¹ L. 2, adv. Julian, c. 8.

² L. 2, adv. Rufin, p. 415.

³ In Isa. c. 60.

⁴ S. Hieron. in Catal.

⁵ L. 1, de Trin. p. 1–10.

⁶ Exod. 3:14

* The contrary is certainly a mistake in Dr. Cave: for St. Jerom, writing against Jovinian, says, in l. 1. p. 175, that though the church was sometimes obliged to make choice of married men for the priesthood, because virgins, or unmarried, could not always be found, they notwithstanding lived ever after continent. Certe confiteris, non posse esse episcopum qui in episcopatu filios faciat: alioqui si deprehensus fuerit nun quasi vir tenebitur, sed quasi adulter condemnabitur, ib. And in his book against Vigilantius, p. 28, he observes, that in the churches of the East. in Egypt, and in the apostolic see of Rome, those only were made clergymen, who were virgins, or single; or if they were married, they ceased to live as husbands Aut virgines clericos accipiunt, aut continentes; aut si uxores habuerint, mariti esse desinunt, p. 281.

⁷ S. Hilar, in Ps. 53, n. 8, in Ps 67, n. 15, and Coutant, Armon. in S. Hilar. in Psalmos, p. 165.

⁸ Ep. ad Lætam.

^† On the interpretation of certain obscure passages of the works of Saint Hilary, see Dom Coutant, in an excellent preface to his edition of this father’s works; also Witasse de Incarn. t. 2. & c.

⁹ Ep. 49. ad Paulinum, t. 4, p. 567.

¹⁰ Lib. 1ss. de Trinit.

^‡ Doubtless his love of prayer, and the assiduous application of his mind to that holy exercise, moved him to make the Psalms a main object of his sacred studies and meditation. His comments are elegant; though in them he dwells much on the literal sense, he neglects not the mystical and allegorical, every thing in these divine oracles being prophetic, as he takes notice, (in Ps. 142. n. 1.) Often he finds the immediate literal sense clear; in other passages, he shows Christ and his Church to be pointed out. The true sense of the holy scriptures he teaches, only to be opened to us by the spirit of assiduous prayer, (in Ps. 125, n. 2, &c.) The fatal and opposite errors, which the overweening spirit and study of a false criticism have produced in every age, justify this general remark of the fathers, that though the succor of reasonable criticism ought by no means to be neglected, a spirit of prayer is the only key which can open to us the sacred treasures of the divine truths, by the light which it obtains of the Holy Ghost, and the spirit of simplicity, piety, and humility, which it infuses. In this disposition, the holy doctors of the church discovered in the divine oracles that spirit of perfect virtue, which they imbibed and improved from, their assiduous meditation. St. Hilary remarks, that the first lesson we are to study in them is that of humility, in which “Christ has taught, that all the titles and prizes of our faith are comprised.” In humilitate docuit omnia fidei nomina et præmia contineri, (in Ps. 118, l. 20. n. 1. p. 358.) Whence the royal prophet entreats God, to consider nothing in him but his lowliness of heart, (v. 153, ibid.) This holy father sticks not to say humility is the greatest work of our faith, our best sacrifice to God. (In Ps. 130. n. 1. p. 442;) but true humility is accompanied with an invincible courage, and a firmness and constancy in virtue, which no fear of world, powers is ever able to shake, (in Ps. 14. p. 66.) St. Hilary laments, that even several pastors of the church thought it a part of piety to flatter princes. But rue religion teaches us (Matt. 10:28) only to fear things which are justly to be feared; that is, to fear God, to fear sin, or what can hurt our souls: for what threatens only our bodies, this is to be despised, when the interest of God and our souls is concerned. We indeed study, out of charity to give offence to no one, (1 Cor. 10:32, 33) but desire only to please men for God, not by contenming him, (in Ps. 52. p. 89. 90.) Prayer is the great Christian duty, which this holy doctor was particularly solicitous to inculcate, teaching, that it consists in the cry of the heart, not in the lips, as David cried to God in his whole heart. Ps. 118 v. 145. (in Ps. 118 l. 19, p. 352.) We are to pour forth our souls before God, with earnestness, and with abundance of tears, (in Ps. 41, apud Marten, t. 9. p. 71.) Amidst the dangers and evils of this life, our only comfort ought to be in God. In the assured hope of his promises, and in prayer, (Ib.) That prayer is despised by God, which is slothful and lukewarm, accompanied with distrust, distracted with unprofitable thoughts, weakened by worldly anxiety and desires of earthly goods, or fruitless, for want of the support of good works, (in Ps. 54. p. 104.) All our actions and discourses ought to be begun by prayer and the divine praise, (in Ps. 64. p. 162.) The day among Christians is always begun by prayer and ended by hymns to God, (ib. n. 12, p. 169.) By this public homage of the church, and of every faithful soul in it, God is particularly honored, and he delights in it. (St. Jerom. in eund. Ps.) St Hilary takes notice, that she night is of all others the most proper time for prayer; as the example of Christ, David, and other saints, demonstrates, (in Ps. 118 l. 8. p. 292.) He observes, that it cannot be doubted, but among as the acts of prayer, that of the divine praise is in general the most noble and most excellent; and that it is for his infinite goodness and mercy, in the first place, that we are bound to praise him, (in Ps. 134 p. 469.) Next to this, he places the duty of thanksgiving. (Ib.) To be silent in the divine praises, he calls the greatest of all punishments; and takes notice, that every one makes what he loves the chiefest object of his joy: as we see in the drunkard, the covetous, or the ambitious man: thus the prophet makes the heavenly Jerusalem the beginning of his joy; always hearing in mind, that this is his eternal country, in which he will be associated with the troops of angels, be received into the kingdom of God, and put in possession of its glory; he therefore finds all other things insipid, and knows no other comfort or joy but in this hope, bearing always in mind, that the glorious inhabitants of that kingdom never cease singing the divine praises, saying, Holy, holy, holy, &c. (in Ps. 136. n. 11, p. 494.) In another place he tells us, that the prophet bears not the delays of his body, (moras corporis sui non patitur,) sighing with the apostle to be dissolved and clothed with immortality; but earnestly praying, that he may find mercy, and be delivered from falling into the lake of torments, (in Ps. 142. n. 8, 9, p. 549.) During this exile to meditate on eternity, and on the divine law and judgments, ought to be our assiduous occupation, (in Ps. 142. n. 6, p. 548,) especially in time of tribulations and temptations, (in Ps. 118. l. 12, n. 10, p. 313.) The world is to be shunned, at least in spirit; first, because it is filled on every side with snares and dangers, secondly, that our souls may more freely soar above it, always thinking on God; hence, he says, our souls must be, as it were, spiritual birds of heaven, always raised high on the wing; and he cries out, “Thou art instructed in heavenly science: what hast thou to do with anxious worldly cares? Thou hast renounced the world; what hast thou to do with its superfluous concerns? Why dost thou complain if thou art taken in a snare, by wandering in a strange land, who oughtest to restrain thy affections from straying from home? Say rather, Who will give me wings as of a dove, and I will fly, and will be at rest?” Ps. 56:7, (in Ps. 118. l. 14, p. 328.) To build a house for God, that is, to prepare a dwelling for him in our souls, we must begin by banishing sin, and all earthly affections, (in Ps. 31. p. 73;) for Christ, who is wisdom, sanctity, and truth, cannot establish his reign in the breast of a fool, hypocrite, or sinner, (in Ps. 41. p. 60, ap. Marten. t. 9.) It is easy for God, by penance, to repair his work, howsoever it may have been defaced by vice, as a potter can restore or improve the form of a vessel, while the clay is yet moist, (in Ps. 2. p. 47:) but he often inculcates that repentance, or the confession of sin, is a solemn profession of sinning no more, (in Ps. 137 p. 498, in Ps. 51 and 118. p. 263, &c.) Every thing that is inordinate in the affections must be cut off. “The prophet gave himself entire to God, according to the tenor of his consecration of himself. Whatever lives in him, lives to God. His whole heart, his whole soul is fixed on God alone, and occupied in him, and he never loses sight of him. In all his works and thoughts God is before his eyes.” Totum quod vivit, Deo vivit. (Ps. 118. l. 14, n. 16, p. 327.) Upon these words I am thy servant, Ps. 118 v. 125, he observes, that every Christian frequently repeats this, but most deny by their actions what they profess in words: “It is the privilege of the prophet to call himself the servant of God in every affection of his heart, in every circumstance and action of his life,” &c. (in Ps. 118 l. 17, p. 339.) He teaches that the angels, patriarchs, and prophets are as it were mountains protecting the church, (in Ps. 124. n. 6, p. 404;) and that holy angels attend and succor the faithful, (in Ps. 137. p. 499;) assist them in time of combat against the devils, (in Ps. 65. p. 178, and Ps. 134. p. 475;) carry up their prayers to their heavenly Father with an eager zeal; and looking upon this ministry as an honor, ‘in Matt. c. 18, p. 699.) That the church of Christ is one, out of which, as out of the ark of Noah, no one can be saved, (in Ps. 146, 14, 64, 128, and 127 in Matt. c. 4, and 7. De Trinit. l. 7, p. 917.) He mentions fast days of precept, the violation of which renders a Christian a slave of the devil, a vessel of death, and fuel of hell, (in Ps. 118. l. 18, p.349.) This crime he joins with pride and fornication, as sins at the sight of which every good Christian ought to pine away with grief and zeal, according to the words of Ps. 118 v. 139. Saint Hilary seems to have explained the whole Psalter, though only part is recovered by the editors of his works. To the comments published by Dom Coutant at Paris, in 1693, the marquis Scipio Maffei added some others on several other Psalms, in his edition at Verona, in 1730. Dom Martenne, in 1733, published others on certain other Psalms, which he had discovered in a manuscript at Anchin, in his Amplissima Monumentorum Collectio, t. 9, p. 55. These comments on the Psalms, St. Hilary compiled after his exile, as appears form certain allusions to his books on the Trinity, and from his frequent reflections against the Arians. Nothing of this is found in his commentary on St. Matthew, which Dom Coutant shows to have been the first of his works in the order of time, composed soon after he was raised to the episcopal dignity. He here and there borrows short passages from Origen, but sticks closer to the literal sense, though he sometimes has recourse to the allegorical, for the sake of some moral instruction. St. Hilary is one of the first who published any Latin comments in the holy scriptures. Rheticius, bishop of Autun, and St. Victorinus of Passaw, though the latter wrote in Greek, had opened the way in the West in the beginning of the same century. St. Hilary, in this commentary on St. Matthew, excellently inculcates in few words the maxims of Christian virtue, especially fraternal charity and meekness, by which our souls pass to divine charity and peace, (in Matt. c. 4, v. 18, 19, p. 626:) and the conditions of fasting and prayer, though for the exposition of our Lord’s prayer, he refers to that of S. Cyprian; adding that Tertullian has left us also a very suitable work upon it; but that his subsequent error has weakened the authority of his former writings which may deserve approbation, (in c. 5, p. 630.) The road to heaven he shows to be exceeding narrow, because even among Christians very few sincerely despise the world, and labor strenuously to subdue their flesh and all their passions, and to shun all the incentives of vice, (in c. 6, p. 368.) St. Peter he calls the Prince of the College of the Apostles, and the Porter of Heaven, and extols the authority of the keys conferred upon him, (in Matt. c. 7, p. 642, in c. 16, p. 690. Also l. 6. de Trin. p. 891, 903, 904.) He proves that Christ, in his bloody sweat, grieved more for the danger of his disciples and other causes, than for his own death; because he had in his last supper already consecrated his blood to be poured forth for the remission of sin. Numquid pati ipse nolebat! Atquin superius fundendum in remissionem peccatorum corporis sui sanguinem consecraverat, (S. Hilar, in Matt. c. 31, p. 743.) His twelve books on the Trinity he compiled during his banishment in Phrygia, between the years 356 and 359, as is clear from his own express testimony, and that of St. Jerom. In the first book of this immortal monument of his admirable genius and piety, he beautifully shows that man’s felicity is only to be found in God; and that the light of reason suffices to demonstrate this, which he illustrates by and account of his own conversion to the faith. After this he takes notice, that we can learn only by God’s revelation, his nature, or what he is, he being the competent witness of himself, who is known only be himself, (n. 18, p. 777.) In the second book he explains the Trinity, which we profess in the form of baptism and says, that faith alone in believing, and sincerity and devotion in adoring, this mystery ought to suffice without disputing or prying, and laments, that by the blasphemies of the Sabellinns and Arians, who perverted the true sense of the scriptures, he was compelled to dispute of things ineffable and Incomprehensible which only necessity can excuse, (n. 23.) He then proves the eternal generation of the Son, the procession of the Holy Ghost, and their consubstantiality in one nature, (l. 2 and 3.) He checks their presumption in pretending to fathom the Trinity, by showing that they cannot understand many miracles of Christ or corporeal things, which yet they confess to be most certain, (l. 3. n. 19, 20, 24.) He detects and confutes the subtiltles of the Arians, in their various confessions of faith, (l. 4, 5, 6,) also of the Sabellians and Photinians, (l. 7;) and demonstrates the divinity of Christ, from the confession of St. Peter, &c., (l. 6,) and of the very Jews, who were more sincere than the Arians, acknowledging that Christ called himself the natural Son of God. (John 10:31, &c. 1:7, n. 2, 3, p. 931.) The natural unity of the Father and Son, he demonstrates from that text. “l and my Father are one,” and others, (l. 8.) and observes that both from the testimony of Christ In the holy scriptures, and from the faith of the church, we believe without doubling the Eucharist to be the true body and blood of Christ, (l. 8, n. 14, p. 955, 956.) He answers several objections from scripture, (l. 9.) and shows there was something in Christ (viz. the divine person, &c.) which did not suffer in his passion, (l. 10.) Other objections he confutes, (l. 11.) and in his last book defends the eternity of the Son of God. Between August in 308, and May in 359. St. Hilary, after he had been three years in banishment, and was still in Asia, published his book On Synods, to inform the catholics in Gaul, Britain, and Germany, what judgment they ought to form of several synods, held lately in the East, chiefly by the Arians and Semi-Arians: a work of great use in the history of those times, and in which St. Hilary’s prudence, humility, modesty, greatness of soul, constancy, invincible meekness, and love of peace, shine forth. In this work he mollifies certain __EXPRESSION__s of the Semi-Arians in their councils, because writing before the council of Rimini, he endeavored to gain them by this method, whereas he at other times severely condemned the same; as did also St. Athanasius, in his book on the same subject, and under the same title, which he composed after the council of Rimini; and expressly to show the variations of those heretics. (Sec Coutant, vit. S. Hilar. p. c. ci. et præf. in S. Hilar. de Synodis, p. 1147.) Fifteen fragments of St. Hilary’s history of the councils of Rimini and Seleucia furnish important materials for the history of Arianism, particularly of the council of Rimini. In his first book to the emperor Constantius, which he wrote in 355 or 356, he conjures that prince with tears to restore peace to the church, and leave the decision of ecclesiastical causes to its pastors. The excellent request which he presented to Constantins at Constantinople, in 360, is called his second book to that prince. The third book ought to he styled, with Coutant, Against Constantius: for in it St. Hilary directs it to the catholics, (n. 2 and 12.) though he often uses an apostrophe to Constantius. The saint wrote it five years after the council of Milan, in 355, as he testifies; consequently in 360, after that prince had rejected his second request; but it was only published after the death of that emperor, in the following year, as is clear from St. Jerom. He says Constantius, by artifices and battery, was a more dangerous persecutor than Nero and Decius: he tells him. “Thou receivest the priests with a kiss, as Christ was be trayed by one: thou bowest thy head to receive their blessing, that thou mayest trample on their faith: thou entertainest them at thy table, as Judas went from table to betray his master.’ Fleury (l. 14, n. 26) bids us observe, in these words, with what respect emperors then treated bishops. St. Hilary in his elegant book against Auxentius, gives the catholics an account of his conferences with that heretic at Milan in 364.

¹¹ In Ps. 64.

¹² In Ps. 1, p. 19, 20.

¹³ Lib. 7, de Trinit. n. 4, p. 917.

¹⁴ Lib. 6. n. 37, 38. p. 904.

¹⁵ In Ps. 131, n. 4, p. 447, in cap. 16, Matt. n. 7, p. 690.

¹⁶ Lib. 11, de Trinit. n. 3.

¹⁷ Lib. 3, adv. Constant. n. 8, p. 1243, Ed. Ben

* This letter is commended by the most judicious critics, Baronius, Tillemont, Fleury and Coutant, a monk of the congregation of St. Maur, in his edition of the works of St. Hilary, and others. The style is not pompous, but adapted to the capacity of a girl of thirteen years of age.

¹⁸ Facta est fides temporum, potlùs quàm evangeliorum, l. 2, ad Const. p. 1227. Tot nunc fides existere, quot voluntaies, ib. Annuas atque menstruas de Deo fides decernimus, decretis pœnitemus, pœnitentes defendimus, defenses anathematizamus. ib. p. 1228.

¹⁹ Cointe Annal. Fr. ad ann. 538, n. 41, 42, 43.

²⁰ L. de Gl. Conf. c. 2.

²¹ Alcuin, Hom de S. Willibrordo.

²² Baillet, Vie de S. Hilaire.

²³ Ap. Mab. anal. t. 4, p. 644.

²⁴ Aimoin. l. 4. c. 17 & 33. Coutant, Vit. S. Hilar, p. cxxiv. cxxv. cxxxix.

²⁵ S. Hilar. in Matt. c. 18. v. i. p. 698.

²⁶ 1 Cor. 1:17, & 3:18. S. Hilar. l. 3, de Trin. n. 24, 25 pp. 822, 823.

²⁷ 1 Par. 29:17.

²⁸ Prov. 3:32.

²⁹ Prov. 11:20.

³⁰ 2 Cor. 1:12.

³¹ Eccles. 1:39

³² Rom. 8:7

¹ S. Paulin. Carm. 19, 20. See Natali. 4.

² De Cor. hymn. 5.

³ Paulin. Carm. 19.

⁴ Dives egebo Deo; nam Christum pauper habebo. Paulin. Carm. 20. Natali S. Felicis 5.

⁵ —— Ego munere linguæ.

Nudue opum, famulor, de me mea debita solvens,

Meque ipsum pro me, vilis licet hostia, pendam. Natal 6.

⁶ Nat. 1, 2. &c.

⁷ Nat. 9, 10.

⁸ St. Paulin. Ep. 28 & 36. Carm. 13. 18. 21, 22, 23. 29 & c.

⁹ St August. Ep. 78, olim 137. and & lib. De curâ pro mortuis, c. 16.

* The Christians observed for several ages, especially in the East, the apostolic temporary precept of abstaining from blood. Acts, 15:20 See Nat. Alexander Hist. Sæc. 1, dissert 9.

 Butler, A., The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints (New York 1903) I, 140-150.