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.