January 13: Feast Day of St. Hilary of Poitiers

St. Hilary of Poitiers is a male saint who was born in 300AD and died at the age of 68 in 368. A Doctor of the Catholic Church, Hilary is known as Hammer of the Arians and the Athanasius of the West. Some sources say he live from 310 to 367 instead, meaning he was under 60 at the time of his death.

Although Hilary was a strong opponent of Arianism, he could see that some of the schism related more to wording than to doctrinal disputes. Hilary composed a treatise where he successfully expressed Greek theological terms in Latin. He was able to do this while conveying the subtlety of the positions.

Hilary maintained the existence of many antichrists, rather than a single one, which is a common belief nowadays. This was the opinion of the Church Fathers in general - that anyone who opposes Christ is an antichrist.

Prior to his conversion, Hilary had a daughter named Saint Abra, who became a nun as per her father's request. Sadly she died as a teenager.

Hilary became known as a pre-eminent writer in the Christian Church, as he preceded Ambrose and Augustine, the latter going so far as to call him "the illustrious doctor of the churches"

St. Hilary is the patron saint of lawyers.