Hilary of Poitiers was Bishop of Poitiers and is a Doctor of the Church. He was sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians" and the "Athanasius of the West." His name comes from the Latin word for happy or cheerful.
The Christians of Poitiers unanimously elected him their bishop. Hilary spent nearly four years in exile in Phrygia. However, he continued to govern his diocese, as well as writing two of the most important of his contributions to dogmatic and polemical theology. He returned to his diocese in 361 and, according to Jerome, died in Poitiers in 367.