Science "shatters" human dignity
Pope Saint Hilarius I
The recent comment (here) by Pope Benedict XVI to the effect that science “shatters” human dignity – he is generous enough to say “some” science does this – put us in mind of another Pontifex no longer much mentioned in the English-speaking world.
Pope – later Saint – Hilarius I was born in Sardinia in an unknown year which however made him old enough to be elected to the Holy See in 461. He died on the 28th of February 468 after, it is recorded, a pontificate of six years, three months, and ten days
Hilarius was one of those early Popes whose mission was to establish at any cost a kind of holy monopoly for the Roman Church, at that time still very seriously in doubt.
Though modern martyrology doesn’t much like to look at things in this way, a huge problem for the early Church was that the Emperors of the late Roman Empire were often inclined to be far too tolerant. Perhaps because they had only recently been pagan themselves, they rarely felt the need to discipline much of anyone for their particular religious views, or to lend the Empire’s muscle to back the claim of supremacy of the Bishop of Rome – the Pope – over all other Christian holy men.
Hilarius is largely remembered for having begun bringing the unruly Bishops of the Empire under centralized control and, perhaps above all, as a great lobbyist. He is especially admired in histories of the early Church for having “worked zealously to counter the new Emperor’s (Procopious Anthemius) edict of toleration (467).” The Catholic Encyclopedia varies the language about this somewhat (here), observing that he “worked zealously for the integrity of the Faith.”
It is in fact recorded that during one of the Emperor’s visits to Hilarius in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pope called him sharply to account, exhorting him by the grave of the Apostle to promise that he would allow no more schismatical assemblies in the city. A pretty ballsy thing to do, considering that another Emperor – that would have been Nero, in 64 AD – had St. Peter crucified, upside down for some reason.
Hilarius was canonized after his death, though we can find no details of his specific miracles. His feast is celebrated either on November 17th – by tradition the date of his election to the Papacy – or on the anniversary of his death, February 28th.