Saints celebrated on the 15th of May
SAINT HILARUS, ABBOT OF GALEATA
(S. Hilarus, Abb. Galeat.)
In A.D. 476, Abbot Hilarus [Hilary], also known as Hillarus, Hyllarus, Illarus, (Butler*: Hilarius) was born in the area of Tuscany and received a Christian education. According to the Life written by his pupil Paulus, which is published in the Bollandists* (III. 473), Hilarus feared God from childhood and avoided all evil.
At the age of 12, he came across a little volume of the letters of Saint Paul, which he began to read regularly, drinking in all they related. Hilarus thereby arrived more and more at the decision to leave the world and serve God in solitude. Moreover, a passage of the gospel was read in church a while later, where our Saviour says that no one can be his disciple who does not hate his father and mother and his own soul, etc. (Luke 14:26 ).
Since he did not quite understand these words, Hilarus, some time after church, asked a pious old man what they meant. In response, the old man told the boy that being so young, it was a bit untimely to think too deeply over such things; but the little one answered: "My father, doesn't it say in the gospel: let the little ones come to me?!" Upon this reply, which the old man recognised as divine wisdom from on high, he explained the meaning of this piece of scripture to the child.
The information thus received strengthened Hilarus' decision to become a hermit. He went off to a lonely region of the Apennine mountains near the river Bedese or Ronco-Bidente (Bidens, Livius Utens), where he gradually became accustomed to the life of solitude, prayer, fasting etc. Later he had a church built on the top of the nearby mountain and a monastic cell prepared for himself.
From A.D. 496 onwards, he formally acknowledged to be devoting himself to the practices of monastic life, and many disciples placed themselves under his direction. Among these was a wealthy nobleman from Ravenna, named Olybrius, whom Hilarus had freed from a demon and then converted to the true faith along with his wife Eustasia, his two sons Junius and Eunomius, and his whole household (ninety people in all). This gave him some land as endowment for the monastery, which Saint Hilarus immediately built, and which received the name Galeata (Galliata) from a neighbouring place, but later received the name Saint Ilar after the saint.
He provided his students, who gathered around him in ever increasing numbers, with no written Rule, but with a practiced Rule instead which, once introduced, remained their guideline. They had to get up at midnight and pray the Office until morning, and set about their daily work not long after. After the meal they had to read a spiritual book and then sing the praises of God until evening time. In every aspect, he led them excellently by his own example.
According to the legend (Sept. VIII. 100) he enjoyed special protection from his angel, who freed him from severe distress more than once. At one point, for instance, Hilarus had been falsely reported to the Gothic king Theodoric, who had seized Italy, that he refused to pay the taxes. The king was about to send his soldiers to mistreat the saint and to destroy his institute; but his angel protected him, and when Theodoric recognised the holy abbot's innocence, he recommended himself to his prayers and gave him several more pieces of land to enlarge his monastery. After these events, Hilarus presided over his community for another 50 years or so.
Three days before our Saint went to his eternal reward, he had an apparition that announced his approaching death. Thereupon he gathered the brethren to once again commend to them the doctrines of humility, obedience and love. Finally he died in the reputation of holiness on May 15, or according to others (e.g. Bucelin*) on May 13, 558 at the advanced age of 82 years.
His body was carefully embalmed and buried with great solemnity at the monastery church, where it remained for over 900 years. In 1488, the abbey, which had drifted into becoming rather secular over the centuries, came into the possession of the Camaldolese, under whom monastic discipline was tightened and who brought the institute back into full bloom. On April 13, 1495 under the ruins of the old church, they discovered Hilarus' mortal remains, which the Camaldolese general Petrus Delfino solemnly buried under the high altar until the church was properly rebuilt and completely restored.
Hilarus is not listed in the Roman Martyrology*. Some Benedictine writers, however, place him among the saints of their Order, although he was not a Benedictine in the strict sense, but as having been somewhat a contemporary of Saint Benedict. The Bollandists* list Saint Hilarus on May 15. He is also commemorated on May 13 and April 13 (see above). (III. 471–477)
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 2, Augsburg, 1861, p. 730-31)
*A hagiography source used by the authors
Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Hilarus may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org
Comments
Post a Comment