judge of it. And we must
not be surprised that the Romans found much insolence in the inflexible
firmness with which he maintained it. Doubtless it was this pretended
insolence which caused him even to be put under guard, which may surprise
us in the case of a Bishop, and in an affair purely ecclesiastical. Among
the insolent and rash expressions of which St. Leo in general complains, he
remarks, in particular, that St. Hilary had often demanded to be condemned,
if he had condemned Celidonius contrary to the rules of the Canons. He
wished, then, that we should judge others by the rule which fully justifies
St. Hilary. The saint, seeing that his reasons were not listened to, would
not wait St. Leo's sentence. He preferred withdrawing secretly, while this
affair was still being examined. So he escaped from his guards, and though
it was still winter, left Rome, and returned to Arles, perhaps in February
(445): so that when they sought for him to speak further on this matter, it
was found that he was gone. St. Leo failed not to proceed, reversed the
judgment delivered against Celidonius, declared him absolved and acquitted
of the accusation of having married a widow, and restored him to his rank
of Bishop, which he had already done at first, without having examined the
affair."

There were other accusations made against St. Hilary, into which we need
not enter. St. Leo wrote a very severe letter about him to the Bishops of
Gaul: he accused him "of raising himself against St. Peter, and being
unwilling to recognise his Primacy, as if all those who believe that a
successor of St. Peter passes the bounds of the Canons were enemies of the
Primacy of the Holy See. That would be to arm against the Popes in favour
of heretics a great number of Fathers, of Saints, and of Councils."[65] The
result was that he took away from St. Hilary his rights of Metropolitan,
and conferred them on the Bishop of Vienne, who had claims upon them. But
this measure was so disliked by the suffragans of Arles, that he restored
the See of Arles to most of its privileges under Ravennius, the successor
of St. Hilary. However, this matter had even more important consequences.
We will let the Roman Catholic historian, as before, describe them. "St.
Leo apparently feared that the Bishops of the Gauls would not be
sufficiently submissive to what he had ordered. And though he had made it a
charge against St. Hilary that he had employed an armed force in affairs