VATICAN CITY, OCT. 10, 2007 (Zenit.org).-
Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI
delivered today at the general audience in St.
Peter's Square. The reflection focused on St. Hilary
of Poitiers.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today I would like to speak about a great Father of
the Western Church, St. Hilary of Poitiers, one of
the great bishops of the 4th century. Confronted
with the Arians, who considered the Son of God a
creature, albeit an excellent one, Hilary dedicated
his life to the defense of faith in the divinity of
Jesus Christ, Son of God, and God as the Father, who
generated him from all eternity. We do not have
definitive data about most of Hilary's life. Ancient
sources say that he was born in Poitiers, probably
around the year 310. From a well-to-do family, he
received a good literary education, which is clearly
evident in his writings. It does not seem that he
was raised in a Christian environment. He himself
tells us about a journey of searching for the truth,
which little by little led him to the recognition of
God the creator and of the incarnate God, who died
to give us eternal life. He was baptized around 345,
and elected bishop of Poitiers around 353-354.
In the years that followed, Hilary wrote his first
work, the "Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew." It
is the oldest surviving commentary in Latin that we
have on this Gospel. In 356, Hilary, as bishop,
attended the Synod of Beziers in southern France,
which he called the "Synod of the False Apostles,"
given that the assembly was dominated by bishops who
were followers of Arianism, and thus negated the
divinity of Jesus Christ. These "false apostles"
asked Emperor Constantine to condemn to exile the
bishop of Poitiers. So Hilary was forced to leave
Gaul during the summer of 356. Exiled to Phrygia, in
present-day Turkey, Hilary found himself in contact
with a religious environment totally dominated by
Arianism. There, too, his pastoral solicitude led
him to work tirelessly for the re-establishment of
the Church’s unity, based on the correct faith, as
formulated by the Council of Nicea. To this end, he
began writing his most important and most famous
dogmatic work: "De Trinitatae" (On the Trinity).
In it, Hilary talks about his own personal journey
toward knowing God, and he is intent on showing that
Scriptures clearly attest to the Son's divinity and
his equality with the Father, not only in the New
Testament, but also in many pages of the Old
Testament, in which the mystery of Christ is already
presented. Faced with the Arians, he insists on the
truth of the names of the Father and the Son and
develops his entire Trinitarian theology departing
from the formula of baptism given to us by the Lord
himself: "In the name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit." The Father and the Son are of the
same nature. And if some passages of the New
Testament could lead one to think that the Son is
inferior to the Father, Hilary offers precise rules
to avoid misleading interpretations: Some passages
in Scripture speak about Jesus as God, others
emphasize his humanity. Some refer to him in his
pre-existence with the Father; others take into
consideration his self lowering ("kenosis"), his
lowering himself unto death; and lastly, others
contemplate him in the glory of the resurrection.
During the years of his exile, Hilary also wrote the
"Book of the Synod," in which, for his brother
bishops of Gaul, he reproduces and comments on the
confessions of faith and other documents of the
synods which met in the East around the middle of
the 4th century. Always firm in his opposition to
radical Arians, St. Hilary showed a conciliatory
spirit with those who accepted that the Son was
similar to the Father in essence, naturally trying
to lead them toward the fullness of faith, which
says that there is not only a similarity, but a true
equality of the Father and the Son in their
divinity. This also seems characteristic: His
conciliatory spirit tries to understand those who
still have not yet arrived to the fullness of the
truth and helps them, with great theological
intelligence, to reach the fullness of faith in the
true divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. In 360 or
361, Hilary was finally able to return from exile to
his homeland and immediately resumed the pastoral
work in his Church, but the influence of his
teaching extended, in fact, well beyond its borders.
A synod celebrated in Paris in 360 or 361 took up
again the language used by the Council of Nicea.
Some ancient authors think that this anti-Arian
development of the bishops of Gaul was due, in large
part, to the strength and meekness of the bishop of
Poitiers.
This was precisely his gift: uniting strength of
faith and meekness in interpersonal relationships.
During the last years of his life, he wrote
"Treatises on the Psalms," a commentary on 58
psalms, interpreted according to the principle
highlighted in the introduction to the work: "There
is no doubt that all the things said in the Psalms
must be understood according to the Gospel
proclamation, so that, independently of the voice
with which the prophetic spirit has spoken,
everything refers to the knowledge of the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, incarnation, passion and
kingdom, and the glory and power of our
resurrection” ("Instructio Psalmorum," 5). In all of
the Psalms, he sees this transparency of Christ's
mystery and of his body, which is the Church. On
various occasions, Hilary met with St. Martin: The
future bishop of Tours founded a monastery near
Poitiers, which still exists today. Hilary died in
367. His feast day is celebrated on Jan. 13. In
1851, Blessed Pius IX proclaimed him a doctor of the
Church.
To summarize the essential aspects of his doctrine,
I would like to say that the starting point for
Hilary's theological reflection is the baptismal
faith. In "De Trinitate," he writes: Jesus
"commanded to baptize in the name of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit (cf. Matthew 28:19),
that is to say, confessing the Author, the Only
Begotten One and the Gift. One alone is the author
of all things, because there is only one God the
Father, from whom all things proceed. And one alone
is our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things
were made (1 Corinthians 8:6), and one alone is the
Spirit (Ephesians 4:4), gift in everything. …
Nothing can be found lacking in a plenitude that is
so grand, in which converges in the Father, and in
the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, the immensity of
the Eternal, the revelation in the Image, the joy in
the Gift" ("De Trinitatae" 2:1). God the Father,
being all love, is able to communicate the fullness
of his divinity to the Son. I find this phrase of
St. Hilary to be particularly beautiful: "God only
knows how to be love, only knows how to be Father.
And he who loves is not envious, and whoever is
Father, is so totally. This name does not allow for
compromise, as if to say that God is father only in
certain aspects and not in others” (ibid. 9:61).
For this reason, the Son is fully God without
lacking anything or having any lessening: "He who
comes from the perfect is perfect, because he who
has everything, has given him everything" (ibid.
2:8). Only in Christ, Son of God and Son of Man,
does humanity find salvation. Taking on human
nature, he united every man to himself, "he became
our flesh" ("Tractatus in Psalmos" 54:9); "he took
on the nature of all flesh, thus becoming the true
vine, the root of all branches" (ibid. 51:16).
Precisely because of this motive, the path to Christ
is open to all -- because he drew everyone into his
humanity -- even though personal conversion is
always required: "Through the relationship with his
flesh, access to Christ is open to everyone,
provided that they leave aside the old man (cf.
Ephesians 4:22) and nail him to his cross (cf.
Colossians 2:14); provided they abandon their former
works and are converted, in order to be buried with
him in baptism, in view of life (cf. Colossians
1:12; Romans 6:4)" (ibid. 91:9).
Faithfulness to God is a gift of his grace.
Therefore St. Hilary asks, at the end of his
treatise on the Trinity, to be able to remain
faithful to the faith of baptism. One of the
characteristics of this book is this: Reflection is
transformed into prayer and prayer leads to
reflection. The entire book is a dialogue with God.
I would like to end today's catechesis with one of
these prayers, that also becomes our prayer: "Grant,
O Lord," Hilary prays in a moment of inspiration,
"that I may remain faithful to that which I
professed in the symbol of my regeneration, when I
was baptized in the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit. That I may adore you, our Father, and
together with you, your Son; that I may be worthy of
your Holy Spirit, who proceeds from you through your
only Son. … Amen” ("De Trinitatae" 12:57).
[Translation by ZENIT]
[After the audience, the Pope greeted the people in
various languages. In English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The subject of today’s catechesis is Saint Hilary of
Poitiers. He was born around the year 310, baptized
when he was about thirty-five, and became Bishop of
Poitiers some eight years later. In opposition to
the Arians, who believed Jesus was a created being,
Hilary dedicated his life to defending our faith in
the divinity of Christ. While exiled to Frigia,
because of the stance he took against the Arians at
the Synod of Béziers, he began his most important
work, De Trinitate. In this text he demonstrates how
both the old and new testaments clearly attest the
divinity of the Son and his equality with the Father
with whom he shares one nature. In his De Synodis
Hilary maintained a conciliatory spirit with those
who used deficient theological formulations, while
leading them to accept fully the Nicean creed. In
360 he returned home, took up his pastoral duties,
and continued to write. The influence of his
teaching spread and many were strengthened in their
resistance to Arian thought, realising that Christ
is our Saviour precisely because he is true God and
true man. Fundamental to Hilary’s insight was the
importance of our Trinitarian baptismal faith. Let
us join him in praying to the Lord that we remain
faithful to this confession, and always bear joyful
witness to our baptismal call!
I welcome all the English speaking visitors present
today, including members of the Congregation of Holy
Cross, participants in the Nato Defence College
Senior Course, and the student groups from Scotland
and Denmark May your time in Rome be one of
spiritual renewal. Upon all of you I invoke God’s
abundant blessings of joy and peace.
© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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