Pope Saint Hilarius (also
Hilarus,
Hilary) was
Pope of the
Roman Catholic Church from
461 to
February 28, 468). He was
canonized as a saint after his death.
The
Sardinian archdeacon of
Rome, Hilarius was elected
bishop of Rome probably
November 17, 461, and was consecrated
November 19, 461 and died on
February 28 (?),
468.
As archdeacon under
Pope Leo I he fought vigorously for the rights of the Roman See and vigorously opposed the condemnation of
Flavian of Constantinople at the
Second Council of Ephesus in 449 to settle the question of
Eutyches. According to a letter to the Empress Pulcheria, collected among the letter of Leo I, Hilarus apologizes for not delivering to her the pope's letter after the synod; but owing to Dioscurus of Alexandria, who tried to hinder his going either to Rome or to Constantinople, he had great difficulty in making his escape in order to bring to the pontiff the news of the result of the council.
As Pope, he continued the policy of his predecessor Leo, who in his contest with
Hilary, bishop of Arles for supremacy in Gaul, had obtained from
Valentinian III a famous rescript (445) confirming the supremacy of the bishop of Rome. Hilarius continued to strengthen papal control over episcopal discipline. At
Narbonne, Hermes, a former archdeacon, had been nominated by his predecessor and installed as bishop without the express sanction of Pope Leo. Hilarius convoked a synod in 462, which confirmed Hermes as
titular bishop, withholding his faculties as metropolitan (Wace). Other decisions expressed in an
encyclical were in the interests of increased discipline: A synod was to be convened yearly by the Bishop of
Arles, but all important matters were to be submitted to the Apostolic See. No bishop could leave his diocese without a written permission from his metropolitan, with a right of appeal to the Bishop of Arles. Respecting the parishes (
paroeciae) claimed by Leontius, bishop of Arles as belonging to his jurisdiction, the Gallican bishops could decide, after an investigation. Church property could not be alienated until a synod had examined into the cause of sale.
Shortly after this the pope found himself involved in another diocesan quarrel. In 463
Mamertus of Vienne had consecrated a
Bishop of Die, although this Church, by a decree of Leo I, belonged to the metropolitan
Diocese of Arles. When Hilarus heard of it he deputed
Leontius of Arles to summon a great synod of the bishops of several provinces to investigate the matter. The synod took place and, on the strength of the report given him by Bishop Antonius, he issued an edict dated 25 February, 464, in which Bishop Veranus was commissioned to warn Mamertus that, if in the future he did not refrain from irregular ordinations, his faculties would be withdrawn. Consequently the consecration of the Bishop of Die must be sanctioned by Leontius of Arles. Thus the primatial privileges of the See of Arles were upheld as Leo I had defined them. At the same time the bishops were admonished not to overstep their boundaries, and to assemble in a yearly synod presided over by the Bishop of Arles. The metropolitan rights of the
See of Embrun also over the dioceses of the Maritime Alps were protected against the encroachments of a certain Bishop
Auxanius, particularly in connection with the two Churches of
Nice and
Cimiez.
He gave decisions to the churches of
Hispania, which tended to operate outside the papal orbit in the 5th century. Silvanus, Bishop of Calahorra, had violated the church laws by his episcopal ordinations, and the pope was asked for his decision. Before an answer came to their petition, the same bishops had recourse to the Holy See for an entirely different matter. Before his death Nundinarius, Bishop of Barcelona, expressed a wish that Irenaeus might be chosen his successor, although he had himself made Irenaeus bishop of another see. The request was granted, a Synod of Tarragona confirming the nomination of Irenaeus, after which the bishops sought the pope's approval. The Roman synod of
19 November 465, held in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, which settled the matters, is the oldest Roman synod whose original records have survived.
In Rome Hilarus worked zealously to counter the new emperor's edict of toleration for schismatic sects (467), inspired, according to a letter of
Pope Gelasius I by a
favourite of Emperor Anthemius named Philotheus, who espoused the Macedonian heresy. On one of the emperor's visits to St Peter's, the pope openly called him to account for his favourite's conduct, exhorting him by the grave of St Peter to promise that he would allow no schismatical assemblies in Rome.
Hilarus erected several churches and other buildings in Rome, for which
Liber Pontificalis the main source for information about Hilarius praises him: two oratories in the baptistery of the Lateran, one in honour of St. John the Baptist, the other of St. John the Apostle, to whom he attributed his safe escape from the Council of Ephesus, are due to him, thus satisfying the question to which Saints John the Lateran had been dedicated. He also erected a chapel of the Holy Cross in the baptistery, convents, two public baths, and libraries near the
Basilica of St. Lawrence outside the Walls, in which church he was buried. His feast day is celebrated on 17 November.
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