Hilary, bishop of Poitiers (western Gaul), in his work Against Constantius, describes healings and exorcisms carried out by the power of the martyrs. Written in Latin, probably in Gaul, in 360.
E08617
Literary - Theological works
Hilary of Poitiers, Against Constantius 8 (CPL 461)
Hilary has compared (§ 7) the emperor Constantius II to pagan persecutors like Nero, Decius, and Maximian, but then argues that he is actually worse, because he denies those he persecutes the chance to be martyred.
Plus crudelitati uestrae, Nero, Deci, Maximiane, debemus. Diabolum enim per uos uicimus. Sanctus ubique beatorum martyrum sanguis exceptus est et ueneranda ossa cottidie testimonio sunt, dum in his daemones mugiunt, dum aegritudines depelluntur, dum admirationem opera cernuntur: eleuari sine laqueis corpora et suspensis pede feminis uestes non defluere in faciem, uri sine ignibus spiritus, confiteri sine interrogatione uexatos, agere omnia non minus cum profectu examinantis quam incremento fidei. [...]
'We are more indebted to your cruelty, Nero, Decius, Maximian, since through you we defeated the Devil. The holy blood of the blessed martyrs has everywhere been gathered up and their venerable bones provide daily testimony, while through them demons cry out, diseases are cured, miracles are witnessed with wonderment: bodies are raised up without ropes; women are hung by their feet, but their clothes do not fall down over their faces; spirits are burnt without fire; the tormented confess without interrogation; all of which contribute no less to the benefit of the questioner than to the advancement of the faith. ...'
Text: Rocher 1987, 182.
Translation: Flower 2016, 123.
Burial site of a saint - unspecified
MiraclesMiracle after death
Exorcism
Healing diseases and disabilities
Power over objects
RelicsBodily relic - bones and teeth
Bodily relic - blood
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesDemons
Source
Hilary of Poitiers is first attested as bishop of Poitiers in the mid 350s. He was an opponent of the ecclesiastical policies of the emperor Constantius II, and following the Council of Béziers in 356 he was exiled to Phrygia in Asia Minor. He returned to Gaul in about 360 and died in 367 (see Flower 2016, 26-31; in more detail PCBE 4, 'Hilarius 1'). Hilary was one of the most prolific Latin Christian writers of the 350s and 360s, producing scriptural and theological works, as well as numerous polemical writings directed at the 'Arian' doctrinal beliefs of Constantius and those in the church who supported him. Against Constantius (In Constantium) is one of these: probably written in 360, at about the time Hilary returned to Gaul from the East, it is a violent denunciation of Constantius and his treatment of his opponents in the church. One of its themes, as exemplified in this passage, is that Constantius is as much an enemy of the church as its pagan persecutors, but proceeds more subtly, sowing dissension and punishing his opponents in ways that deny them martyrdom.Discussion
The imagery used in this passage to show the miraculous power of the bodily relics of the martyrs – exorcisms with the loud protests of demons, bodies raised in the air, and so on – would be ubiquitous from late antiquity onwards. What is noteworthy about Hilary's account is its very early date: written in about 360, it appears to be the earliest surviving description of such phenomena, alongside a briefer reference in another, roughly contemporaneous, work by Hilary, On the Trinity (E08619).In a detailed discussion of the two passages (Wiśniewski 2019, 31-35), Robert Wiśniewski points out that while there is no surviving literary account before Hilary, he already writes as if these things were common and not something new and unprecedented. Wiśniewski suggests that Hilary may have witnessed such incidents during his exile, at one of the large martyr shrines already established in the eastern empire.
Bibliography
Texts and translations:Rocher, A., Hilaire de Poitiers, Contre Constance (Sources Chrétiennes 334; Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1987).
Flower, R., Imperial Invectives against Constantius II: Athanasius of Alexandria, History of the Arians; Hilary of Poitiers, Against Constantius; Lucifer of Cagliari, The Necessity of Dying for the Son of God (Translated Texts for Historians 67; Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2016), 115-140.
Further reading:
Pietri, L., and Heijmans, M., Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, 4 Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne (314-614), 2 vols. (Paris, 2013), vol. 1, 989-997, "Hilarius 1."
Wiśniewski, R., The Beginnings of the Cult of Relics (Oxford: OUP, 2019).
David Lambert
15/02/2026
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | Certain |
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