Feast day: May 5
St. Hilary of Arles
A young nobleman drawn from a brilliant career into the monastery of Lérins, who became a zealous, ascetic bishop of Arles, preaching tirelessly and ransoming captives.
Hilary was born about 401 into a distinguished family of northern Gaul, with a promising worldly career before him. But he came under the influence of his kinsman St. Honoratus, founder of the famous island monastery of Lérins, who at length persuaded the reluctant young man to renounce his wealth and prospects for the monastic life.
At Lérins he gave himself to austerity and the study of Scripture. When Honoratus became archbishop of Arles and then lay dying, he summoned Hilary, who was made archbishop in his place about 429 — though barely thirty. He governed with extraordinary energy and personal poverty, working with his hands, ransoming captives, and preaching constantly.
His zeal, however, led him into a famous dispute. Believing he had the right to depose a bishop of his province, he acted without reference to Rome; the deposed bishop appealed to Pope St. Leo the Great, who reinstated him and curtailed the jurisdiction Hilary had claimed. Hilary submitted, and the two were reconciled before his death.
He died in 449, still a young man, worn out by his labours. Despite the quarrel over jurisdiction his holiness was never in doubt, and Leo himself, on hearing of his death, spoke of 'Hilary of holy memory.'
He sold church plate and even melted down sacred vessels to buy back prisoners taken in the raids of his troubled age.
Image: AnonymousUnknown author (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: newadvent.org/cathen/07349a.htm
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