Hilary of Arles

• Bishop of Arles and metropolitan. Born probably at apparently that part of Gallia Belgica called later Austrasia.
• His education was, according to the standard of the age, a thoroughly liberal one, including philosophy and rhetoric.
• At a young age, by the example and entreaties of his friend and kinsman Honoratus of Arles to renounce all secular society for the solitude of the isle of Lerins, he sold his estates to his brother, and gave the proceeds partly to the poor, partly to some monasteries which needed aid.
• At Lerins he became a model monk in the very best and highest sense; after a short period his friend Honoratus, being chosen bishop of Arles, obtained the comfort of Hilary’s companionship in his new duties.
• Honoratus died 7 January449, and Hilaryat once prepared

to return to Lerins, but the citizens of Arles compelled him to occupy the vacant see.

• He was a bishop who lived close to his people and had a special concern for the poor and the weak.
• Hilary has been accused of Semi-Pelagianism based upon letters sent to St. Augustine in 429, one by Prosper and the other by Hilary a layman. Prosper after recounting dissent manifest in South Gaul from the Augustinian teaching on predestination, expressly names Hilary, bishop of Arles, among the recalcitrants.
• If on this evidence, and also from the respect shown by him to Faustus of Riez, we are compelled to class Hilary of Arles with the Semi-Pelagians, it must be recognized that he is a supporter of their views in their very mildest form.
• St. Germian of Auxerre, who went twice over to Britain to contend against Pelagianism, was a companion of Hilary on at least one of his tours through Gaul.
• He presided over the councils of Riez (439), Orange (442), and kept up a bitter contest even with Pope Leo I, for the primacy of Arles. Hilary held a council at Vienne in 444 in which bishop Chelidonius, of Besançon, was deposed from the episcopate. He appealed to Rome in person. Leo I held a council attended by Hilary and found the charge of marriage with a widow not proven against Chelidonius; and formally pronounced him restored to his rank of bishop and to his see.
• Leo the Great forbade the bishop of Arles to intervene in the province of Vienne. In addition in 445 at Rome, Leo obtained an imperial decree issued by Valentinian III in the names of Valentinian and the eastern Emperor Theodosius II. This document harshly criticized Hilary as “contumacious” and vigorously supported the jurisdiction of the papacy over “Gallican bishops,” as well as those of other provinces.

• Hilary was an accomplished preacher to an extent to be compared to St. Augustine.
• He provides information on his own life in his sermon De vita S. Honorati Arelatensis episcoie, which is a commemoration spoken by Hilary in ca. 431 on the anniversary of Honoratus’ death, and probably re-written in elaborate form, with good knowledge of the rules of rhetoric and biography. - The (so-called) Creed of St. Athanasius: Waterland in his Critical History of the Athanasian Creed, argues that Hilary of Arles was the author of this creed, but this remains only an ingenious conjecture.
• Among other doubtful works of Hilary must be classed

certain poems on sacred subjects: - Poema de septem fratribus Maccabaeis ab Antiocho Epiphane interfectis. - Carmen de Dei Providentia: A poem more frequently attributed to Prosper of Aquitaine and generally included in his works. - Carmen in Genesim: This poem (which like the two preceding, is in hexameters) has been more often ascribed to the earlier Hilary, bishop of Poitiers. Despite theological, grammatical, and metrical faults, the poem is curious as a real attempt at the blending of the Christian and classic elements of literature. - Epistola ad Eucherium Episcopum Lugdunensem.

• We have the authority of Hilary’s biographer for asserting that he did compose some poetry (versus), wrote many letters, and explanation of the Creed (Symboli Exposition—this is a main element in Waterland’s argument).
• He also wrote sermons for all the Church’s festivals (Homiliae in totius Anni Festivitates). These were apparently extant when Honoratus wrote.
• The Vita Hilarii is a document of great value. The author gives his name as Reverentius, which is possibly a pseudonym for Honoratus of Marseilles, a disciple of Hilary.