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HILARIUS (HILARY), ST (c. 403-449)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 460 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HILARIUS (HILARY), ST (c. 403-449)  , See also:bishop of See also:Arles, was See also:born about 403 . In See also:early youth he entered the See also:abbey of Lerfhs, then presided over by his kinsman Honoratus (St Honore), and succeeded Honoratus in the bishopric of Arles in "429 . Following the example of St See also:Augustine, he is said to have organized his See also:cathedral See also:clergy into a " See also:congregation," devoting a See also:great See also:part of their See also:time to social exercises of ascetic See also:religion . He held the See also:rank of See also:metropolitan of See also:Vienne and See also:Narbonne, and attempted to realize the sort of primacy over the See also:church of See also:south See also:Gaul See also:Easter . In the Inns of See also:Court, Hilary is one of the four dining terms; it begins on the 11th of See also:January and ends on the 1st of See also:February . It is also the name of one of the terms at the See also:universities of See also:Oxford (more usually " See also:Lent See also:term ") and See also:Dublin . which seemed implied in the vicariate granted to his predecessor church . He was probably a See also:pupil of See also:Berengarius of See also:Tours, and became See also:master (scholasticus) of the school at Le Mans; in 1091 he was made See also:archdeacon and in 1096 bishop of Le Mans . He had to See also:face the hostility of a See also:section of his clergy and also of the See also:English See also:king, See also:William II., who captured Le Mans and carried the bishop with him to See also:England for about a See also:year . See also:Hildebert then travelled to See also:Rome and sought permission to resign his bishopric, which See also:Pope See also:Paschal II. refused . In 1116 his See also:diocese was thrown into great confusion owing to the See also:preaching of See also:Henry of See also:Lausanne, who was denouncing the higher clergy, especially the bishop . Hildebert compelled him to leave the neighbourhood of Le Mans, but the effects of his preaching remained .

In 1125 Hildebert was translated very unwillingly to the archbishopric of Tours, and there he came into conflict with the See also:

French king See also:Louis VI. about the rights of ecclesiastical patronage and with the bishop of See also:Dol about the authority of his see in See also:Brittany . He presided over the See also:synod of See also:Nantes, and died at Tours probably on the 18th of See also:December 1133 . Hildebert, who built part of the cathedral at Le Mans, has received from some writers the See also:title of See also:saint, but there appears to be no authority for this . He was not a See also:man of very strict See also:life; his contemporaries, however, had a very high See also:opinion of him and he was called egregius versificator . The extant writings of Hildebert consist of letters, poems, a few sermons, two lives and one or two See also:treatises . An edition of his See also:works prepared by the Maurist, See also:Antoine Beaugendre, and entitled Venerabilis Hildeberti, primo Cenomannensis episcopi, deinde Turonensis archiepiscopi, See also:opera See also:tam edita quam inedita, was published in See also:Paris in 17o8 and was reprinted with additions by J . J . Bourasse in 1854 . These See also:editions, however, are very faulty . They See also:credit Hildebert with numerous writings which are the See also:work of others, while some genuine writings are omitted . The See also:revelation of this fact has affected Hildebert's position in the See also:history of See also:medieval thought . His See also:standing as a philosopher rested upon his supposed authorship of the important Tractatus theologicus; but this is now regarded as the work of See also:Hugh of St See also:Victor, and consequently Hildebert can hardly be counted among the philosophers .

His genuine writings include many letters . These Epistolae enjoyed great popularity in the 12th and 13th centuries, and were frequently used as See also:

classics in the See also:schools of See also:France and See also:Italy . Those which concern the struggle between the See also:emperor Henry V. and Pope Paschal II. have been edited by E . Sackur and printed in the Monumenta Germaniae historica . Libelli de lice ii . (1893) . His poems, which See also:deal with various subjects, are disfigured by many defects of See also:style and See also:metre, but they too were very popular . Hildebert attained celebrity also as a preacher both in French and Latin, but only a few of his sermons are in existence, most of the 144 attributed to him by his editors being the work of See also:Peter Lombard and others . The Vitae written by Hildebert are the lives of See also:Hugo, See also:abbot of See also:Cluny, and of St See also:Radegunda . Undoubtedly genuine is also his See also:Liber de querimonia et conftictu carnis et spiritus seu animae . Hildebert was an excellent Latin See also:scholar, being acquainted with See also:Cicero, See also:Ovid and other authors, and his spirit is rather that of a See also:pagan than of a See also:Christian writer . Patroclus (417) .

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Hilarius deposed the bishop of See also:Besancon (Chelidonus), for ignoring this primacy, and for claiming a metropolitan dignity for Besancon . An See also:appeal was made to Rome, and See also:Leo I. used it to extinguish the Gallican vicariate (A.D . 444) . Hilarius was deprived of his rights as metropolitan to consecrate bishops, See also:call synods, or exercise ecclesiastical over-sight in the See also:province, and the pope secured the See also:edict of Valentinian III., so important in the history of the Gallican church, " ut episcopis Gallicanis omnibusque See also:pro lege esset quidquid apostolicae sedis auctoritas sanxisset." The papal claims were made imperial See also:law, and violation of them subject to legal penalties (Novellae Valent. iii. tit . 16) . Hilarius died in 449, and his name was afterwards introduced into the See also:Roman See also:martyrology for See also:commemoration on the 5th of May . He enjoyed during his lifetime a high reputation for learning and eloquence as well as for piety; his extant works (Vita S . Honorati Arelatensis episcopi and Metrum in Genesin) compare favourably with any similar See also:literary productions of that See also:period . A poem, De providentia, usually included among the writings of Prosper, is sometimes attributed to Hilary of Arles .

End of Article: HILARIUS (HILARY), ST (c. 403-449)
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