Hilary, bishop of Poitiers (western Gaul), in his work On the Trinity, describes healings and exorcisms carried out by the power of the apostles and martyrs. Written in Latin, probably during Hilary's exile in Asia Minor, 356/360.
E08619
Literary - Theological works
Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity 11.3 (CPL 433)
Non enim negari iam Christus quin Christus sit potest, neque mundo ignorabilis effici. Hunc profetiae uolumina consignant, hunc temporum cotidie proficiens plenitudo testatur, hunc apostolorum et martyrum per uirtutum operationes loquuntur sepulchra, hunc potestas nominis sui probat, hunc inmundi spiritus confitentur, hunc punitorum daemonum resonat mugitus. Sed in his omnibus uirtutis suae dispensatio est.
'It is not now possible to deny that Christ was Christ, nor for him to be made ignorable by the world. The books of prophecy authenticate him; the fulfilment of time, advancing day by day, bears witness to him; the tombs of the apostles and martyrs, through the miracles performed there, speak of him; the power of his name proves him; the unclean spirits confess him; the groaning of punished demons resounds with him. But all these things are controlled by his power.'
Text: Smulders 1980, 531-2.
Translation: David Lambert.
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
MiraclesExorcism
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.Hilary's theological treatise On the Trinity (De Trinitate) was composed during his exile, between about 356 and 360 (Figura and Doignon 1999, 46).
Discussion
This passage from Hilary's treatise On the Trinity is one of the earliest extant references to miracles, specifically exorcisms, taking place at the tombs of the apostles and martyrs. It is roughly contemporaneous with another, slightly more detailed, reference to such phenomena in Hilary's Against Constantius (E08617). Both passages, written around 360, use imagery – in this case demons confessing the name of Christ – that would become clichéd, but which seems to have no precedent at the time of their composition.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:Smulders, P., Hilarius Pictaviensis, De Trinitate. Libri VIII-XII (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 62A; Turnhout: Brepols, 1980).
McKenna, S., Saint Hilary of Poitiers, The Trinity (Fathers of the Church 25; New York, 1954).
Further reading:
Figura, M., and Doignon, J., "Introduction," in: Hilaire de Poitiers, La Trinité. Tome I (Livres I-III) (Sources Chrétiennes 443; Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1999), 11-188.
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
25/03/2026
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | Certain |
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