Page "Hilary of Poitiers" Paragraph 2

So great was the respect in which he was held by the citizens of Poitiers that about 353, although still a married man, he was unanimously elected bishop.

At that time Arianism was threatening to overrun the Western Church ; to repel the disruption was the great task which Hilary undertook.

One of his first steps was to secure the excommunication, by those of the Gallican hierarchy who still remained orthodox, of Saturninus, the Arian Bishop of Arles, and of Ursacius and Valens, two of his prominent supporters.