Saint Hilary of Poitiers

Hilary was born around 310 in Poitiers, in Gaul, to a pagan family. Searching for the meaning of life, he read the Scriptures and was led to faith in the God of the Bible; he was baptized as an adult together with his wife and daughter. Around 350 the people of Poitiers chose him as their bishop.

At that time Arianism, which denied that the Son is truly God, was supported by the emperor Constantius. Because Hilary refused to condemn Saint Athanasius, he was exiled to Phrygia in Asia Minor in 356. There he wrote his great work On the Trinity and learned the theology of the Eastern Church. Returning home around 360, he worked for unity and wrote some of the first Latin hymns. He died in 367 and was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1851.

He was the teacher and friend of Saint Martin of Tours, who founded his first monastery near Poitiers with Hilary's help. In England and Ireland the court and university term that begins in January is still called the Hilary term. Many churches in France bear his name, Saint-Hilaire.