HILARIUS

hilarius, or hilarus (hilary), bishop of rome from 461 to 468, is known to have been a deacon and to have acted as legate of leo the great at the "robber" synod of ephesus in 449. there he so vigorously defended the conduct of flavian in deposing eutyches that he was thrown into prison, whence he had great difficulty in making his escape to rome. he was chosen to succeed leo on the 19th of november 461. in 465 he held at rome a council which put a stop to some abuses, particularly to that of bishops appointing their own successors. his pontificate was also marked by a successful encroachment of the papal authority on the metropolitan rights of the french and spanish hierarchy, and by a resistance to the toleration edict of anthemius, which ultimately caused it to be recalled. hilarius died on the 17th of november 467, and was succeeded by simplicius. hilarius (fl. 1125), a latin poet who is supposed to have been an englishman. he was one of the pupils of abelard at his oratory of paraclete, and addressed to him a copy of verses with its refrain in the vulgar tongue, "_tort avers vos li mestre_," abelard having threatened to discontinue his teaching because of certain reports made by his servant about the conduct of the scholars. later hilarius made his way to angers. his poems are contained in ms. supp. lat. 1008 of the bibliotheque nationale, paris, purchased in 1837 at the sale of m. de rosny. quotations from this ms. had appeared before, but in 1838 it was edited by champollion figeac as _hilarii versus et ludi_. his works consist chiefly of light verses of the goliardic type. there are verses addressed to an english nun named eva, lines to rosa, "_ave splendor puellarum, generosa domina_," and another poem describes the beauties of the priory of chaloutre la petite, in the diocese of sens, of which the writer was then an inmate. one copy of satirical verses seems to aim at the pope himself. he also wrote three miracle plays in rhymed latin with an admixture of french. two of them, _suscitatio lazari_ and _historia de daniel repraesentanda_, are of purely liturgical type. at the end of _lazarus_ is a stage direction to the effect that if the performance has been given at matins, lazarus should proceed with the _te deum_, if at vespers, with the _magnificat_. the third, _ludus super iconia sancti nicholai_, is founded on a sufficiently foolish legend. petit de julleville sees in the play a satiric intention and a veiled incredulity that put the piece outside the category of liturgical drama. a rhymed latin account of a dispute in which the nuns of ronceray at angers were concerned, contained in a cartulary of ronceray, is also ascribed to the poet, who there calls himself hilarius canonicus. the poem is printed in the _bibliotheque de l'ecole des chartes_ (vol. xxxvii. 1876), and is dated by p. marchegay from 1121. see also a notice in _hist. litt. de la france_ (xii. 251-254), supplemented (in xx. 627-630), s.v. jean bodel, by paulin paris; also wright, _biographia britannica literaria, anglo-norman period_ (1846); and petit de julleville, _les mysteres_ (vol. i. 1880). hilarius (hilary), st (c. 403-449), bishop of arles, was born about 403. in early youth he entered the abbey of lerins, then presided over by his kinsman honoratus (st honore), and succeeded honoratus in the bishopric of arles in 429. following the example of st augustine, he is said to have organized his cathedral clergy into a "congregation," devoting a great part of their time to social exercises of ascetic religion. he held the rank of metropolitan of vienne and narbonne, and attempted to realize the sort of primacy over the church of south gaul which seemed implied in the vicariate granted to his predecessor patroclus (417). hilarius deposed the bishop of besancon (chelidonus), for ignoring this primacy, and for claiming a metropolitan dignity for besancon. an appeal was made to rome, and leo i. used it to extinguish the gallican vicariate (a.d. 444). hilarius was deprived of his rights as metropolitan to consecrate bishops, call synods, or exercise ecclesiastical oversight in the province, and the pope secured the edict of valentinian iii., so important in the history of the gallican church, "ut episcopis gallicanis omnibusque pro lege esset quidquid apostolicae sedis auctoritas sanxisset." the papal claims were made imperial 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 roman martyrology for 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 literary productions of that period. a poem, _de providentia_, usually included among the writings of prosper, is sometimes attributed to hilary of arles.