St Hilary’s Day
St Hilary of Poitiers (300-368) was a Gaulish bishop who was one of the most prominent defenders of Trinitarianism in the western empire. A convert from paganism, he turned his considerable learning against the Arian heresy which denied the divinity of Christ. The 325 Council of Nicaea had condemned this view of the Godhead but Arianism was protected by emperors and many churchmen in the middle of the fourth century — for these men the notion that Christ was a powerful but inferior creation was the best way to cling to monotheism. Like many who defended the Trinity in this era, Hilary was persecuted and sent into exile. In time, his writings won him recall to Poitiers and he spent the rest of his life battling the Arian heretics. He said: “For one to attempt to speak of God in terms more precise than he himself has used — to undertake such a thing is to embark upon the boundless, to dare the incomprehensible. He fixed the names of His nature: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Whatever is sought over and above this is beyond the meaning of words, beyond the limits of perception, beyond the embrace of understanding.” Hilary is the patron saint of those who suffer from snake-bite.