(315-368) The Hammer against Arianism, the Doctor of the Divinity of Christ, was born to wealthy polytheist nobility and studied his way into belief in the one true God and eventually the Church. He was baptized around age 35 and made a bishop eight or nine years later. Hilary spent his life defending the Council of Nicea against the Arian heresy, his most prominent work being On the Trinity, where he clarified the divinity of Jesus.
Pope Benedict XVI said in a General Audience on October 10, 2007, “To sum up the essentials of his doctrine, I would like to say that Hilary found the starting point for his theological reflection in baptismal faith.” Baptism is the regeneration of the person in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (cf. Matthew 28:19). How is baptismal regeneration a metaphor for recovery (cf. Romans 6:4, 6; cf. Colossians 2:12)?
“To those who would wish to stand, neither the guardianship of saints nor the defenses of angels are wanting” (Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on the Psalms).
Reflection by Brad Farmer