October 21 — Saint Hilarion Abbot

4 Monks were unknown in Syria before St. Hilarion,' says his historian St. Jerome. 'He instituted the monastic life in that oountry, and was the master of those who embraced it. The Lord Jesus had His Anthony in Egypt and His Hilarion in Palestine, the former advanced in years, the latter still young.' 1 Now our Lord very soon raised this young man to suoh glory, that Anthony would say to the sick, who came to him from Syria attracted by the fame of his miracles: 'Why take the trouble to oome so far, when you have near you my son Hilarion ? >2 And yet Hilarion had spent only two months with Anthony ; after which the patriarch had said to him: 1 Persevere to the end, my son ; and thy labour will win thee the delights of heaven.' Then, giving a hair-shirt and a garment of skin to this boy of fifteen whom he was never to see again, he sent him back to sanctify the solitudes of his own country, while he himself retired farther into the desert. 8

The enemy of mankind, foreseeing a formidable adversary in this new solitary, wagea a terrible war against him. Even the flesh, in spite of the young ascetic's fasts, was satan's first accomplice. But without any pity for a body so frail and delicate, as

1 Hieron. in vita S Hilarionis, cap. ii. 3 Ibid. in.

3 Ibid. i. ex graca vertione.

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TIMB AFTER PENTECOST his historian says, that any effort would have seemed sufficient to destroy it, Hilarion cried out indignantly: 'Ass, I will see that thou kick no more; I will reduce thee by hunger, I will crush thee with burdens, I will make thee work in all weathers; thou shalt be so pinohed with hunger, that thou wilt think no more of pleasure.' 1

Vanquished in this quarter, the enemy found other allies, through whom he thought to drive Hilarion, by fear, back to the dwellings of men. But to the robbers who fell upon his poor wicker hut, the saint said smiling: 'He that is naked has no fear of thieves.' And they, touched by his great virtue, could not conceal their admiration, and promised to amend their lives. 2

Then satan determined to come in person, as he had done to Anthony ; but with no better success. No trouble could disturb the serenity attained by that simple, holy soul. One day the demon entered into a oamel and made it mad, so that it rushed upon the saint with horrible cries. But he only answered: ' I am not afraid of thee ; thou art always the eame, whether thou come as a fox or a camel.' And the huge beast fell down tamed at his feet. 8

There was a harder trial yet to come from the most cunning artifice of the serpent. When Hilarion sought to hide himself from the immense concourse of people who besieged his poor cell, the enemy maliciously published his fame far and wide, and brought to him overwhelming crowds from every land. In vain he quitted Syria and travelled the length and breadth of Egypt ; in vain, pursued from desert to desert, he crossed the sea, and hoped to conceal himself in Sicily, in Dalmatia, in Cyprus. From the ship, which was making its way among l 5ieron. Y%t<* S. Milarioitis, 2 Ibid, % Ibid. i*.

SAINT HILARION the Cyolades, he heard, in each island, the infernal spirits calling one another from the towns and villages and running to the shores as he passed by. At Paphos, where he landed, the same oonoourse of demons brought to him multitudes of men ; until at length God took pity on His servant, and discovered to him a place inaccessible to his fellow-men, where he had no company but legions of devils, who surrounded him day and night. Far from fearing, says his biographer, he took pleasure in the neighbourhood of his old antagonists whom he knew so well ; and he lived there in great peace the last five years before his death. 1

The Churoh thus abridges St. Jerome's history of Hilarion.

Hilarion, ortus Tabathae in Palffistina ex parentibus infidelibus, Alexandriam missus studiorum causa, ibi morum et ingenii laude floruit: ac Jesu Christi suscepta religione, in fide et caritate mirabiliter prof ecit. Frequens enim erat in ecclesia, assiduus in jejunio et oratione: omnes voluptatum illecebras et terrenarum rerum cupiditates contemnebat. Cum autem Antonii nomen in JEgypto celeberrimum esset, ejus videndi studio in solitudinem contendit: apud quern duobus mensibus omnem ejus vitae rationem didicit. Domum reversus, mortuis parentibus, facultates suas

Hilarion was born of infidel parents at Abatha in Palestine; and was sent to study at Alexandria, where he became famous for his talents and the purity of his morals. He embraced the Christian religion, and made wonderful progress in faith and charity. He was constantly in the church, devoted himself to prayer and fasting, and was full of contempt for the enticements of pleasure and earthly desires. The fame of St. Anthony had then spread over all Egypt. Hilarion, desirous of seeing him, betook himself to the wilderness, and stayed two months with him learning his manner of life. He then returned home; but

1 JLieron. Vita S Hilarionis^ 3, 4, 5,

TOIB AFTER PBNTX008T pauperibus dilargitus est: necdum quintum decimum annum egressus, rediit in solitudinem, ubi, exstructa exigua casa, quaB vix ipsum caperet, hnmi cubabat. Nec vero saccum, quo semel amictus eat, umquam aut lavit, aut mutavit, cum supervacaneum esse diceret, munditias in cilicio quaerere.

In aanctarum litterarum leotione et meditatione multus erat. Paucas ficus et succum herbarum ad victum adhibebat ; nec illis ante solis occasum vescebatur. Continentia et humilitate fuit incredibili. Quibus aliisque virtutibus varias horribilesque tentationes diaboli superavit, et innumerabiles d»mones in multis orbis terra partibus ex hominum corporibus ejecit. Qui octogeaimum annum agens, multis 8edificati monasteriis, et Claris miraculis, in morbum incidit : cu jus vi cum extremo pene spiritu conflictaretur, dicebat : Egredere, quid times? egredere, anima mea, quid dubitas? septuaginta prope annis servisti Christo, et mortem times? Quibus in verbis spiritum exhalavit. on the death of his parents he bestowed his goods upon the poor, and though only in his fifteenth year, returned to the desert. He built himself a little cell scarcely large enough to hold him, and there he slept on the ground. He never changed or washed the sackcloth he wore, saying it was superfluous to look for cleanliness in a hair-shirt.

He devoted himself to the reading and study of the holy Scripture. His food consisted of a few figs and the juice of herbs, which he never took before sunset. His mortification and humility were wonderful; and by means of these and other virtues he overcame many terrible temptations of the evil one, and cast innumerable devils out of the possessed in many parts of the world. He had built many monasteries, and was renowned for miracles, when he fell ill in the eightieth year of his age. In his last agony he exclaimed : Go forth, my soul, why dost thou fear? Go forth, why dost thou hesitate? Thou hast served Christ for nearly seventy years, and dost thou fear death? And with these words he expired.

To be a Hilarion, and yet to fear death ! If in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done vol lie dry ? l 0 glorious saint, penetrate us with the