Jan. 13 Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time; Opt Mem of St. Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop and Doctor, Opt. Mem.

Today the Church returns to Ordinary Time, the Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time. The Church also celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. Hilary of Poitiers (310-367). Hilary was one of the great champions of the Catholic belief in the divinity of Christ. By his preaching, his treatise on the Trinity, his part in the Councils, his daring opposition to the Emperor Constantius, he showed himself a courageous apostle of the truth. He could not tolerate that the specious plea of safeguarding peace and unity should be allowed to dim the light of Gospel teaching. Bl. Pius IX proclaimed him a doctor of the Church.