Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Hilary was born into a pagan family at Poitiers in Gaul about 315 and came to the faith through reading the Scriptures. Married, with a daughter, he was chosen bishop of his city about 350. Because he refused to condemn Athanasius and opposed the Arian party favored by the emperor Constantius II, he was exiled to Phrygia in 356.

In exile he studied the Greek theologians and wrote his twelve books On the Trinity, the first great Latin work on the subject. Allowed home about 360, he worked to reconcile the bishops of Gaul and taught Martin, the future bishop of Tours. He died about 367. Pius IX named him a Doctor of the Church in 1851; he is often called “the Athanasius of the West.”