Today the Church celebrates a wonderful saint, St. Hilary of Poitiers, born around 315.He became a bishop of Poitiers (where he was born) three years after becoming a Christian, and so he was most likely a layman at the time of his election.
Hilary was very much a defender of orthodoxy in the face of heretics and their movements, especially Arianism.
The distinction "the trumpet of the Latins against the Arians" was given to him by St. Jerome who of course studied Hilary's writings and life.
I prefer the nickname given him by the Arians, who evidently referred to Hilary as "the troublemaker".
Constantius II, the Arian emperor at the time, sent Hilary into exile for not condemning Athanasius, who like Hilary fought against Arianism. For this, he is the patron saint of exiles.
He preached the truth and didn't water anything down. Story goes that one Sunday while Hilary was preaching, some people began to leave the church. Why? They didn't like what he was saying, what he was challenging them to do. So they began to walk out. Hilary yelled to them: "You will not so easily get out of Hell!"
This is one of my favorite quotes.
St. Hilary: Pray for us!
mk
