Prayer for Perseverance in the
True Faith
Brother John Raymond
This particular prayer for perseverance in the True Faith was
written by St. Hilary of Poitiers. It is not surprising for him to
be the author of this prayer. This Doctor of the Church was exiled
for three years for his opposition to error.
The Emperor Constantius supported a heresy called Arianism. This
error taught that Jesus was not God. St. Athanasius opposed this
erroneous doctrine. Because of this the Emperor and a synod of
heretical Bishops in 355 required all Bishops to sign a condemnation
of St. Athanasius. St. Hilary refused to sign and thus was exiled
from his diocese in Poiters, France in 356.
In 359 St. Hilary went to the Emperor to obtain permission to
hold a public debate with his main persecutor, Saturninus. The
Arians, fearing such a debate, persuaded the Emperor to send him
back into exile. He managed to return to his diocese from exile and
restored order. In 364 he travelled from his diocese in Poitiers to
Milan to publicly debate with another Arian Bishop. This Bishop, out
of fear of St. Hilary, claimed that he himself was orthodox. He
accused St. Hilary of being an Arian and demanded that he prove his
orthodoxy by professing that Jesus was God. By this reversal of the
truth he tricked the new Emperor, Valentinian, who was against
Arianism, into believing that he was orthodox. St. Hilary returned
to his diocese defeated by treachery.
St. Hilary is believed to have died in the year 368. He was
proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1851. His feast
is celebrated on January 14th. We should ask this hero of the truth
to help us in our times when there is so much error.
Prayer
Father, keep us from vain strife of words. Grant to us constant
profession of the Truth! Preserve us in a true and undefiled Faith
so that we may hold fast to that which we professed when we were
baptized in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - that we
may have Thee for our Father, that we may abide in Thy Son and in
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.