He left his home, and traveled across the Apennines towards Emilia and chose a spot pointed out to him by an angel, on a mountain in the valley of the Bidente near the Ronco River.

[1] Hilary also managed to impress Theodoric, who had originally been harassing the monks and who had been building a palace near Galeata, into donating land and goods.

[1] However, as Giovanni Lucchesi has remarked, the Vita’s author followed the normal standards for writing hagiographies in the Middle Ages, which called for the incorporation of miracles, the active participation of angels and demons, and the addition of long, devout speeches and prayers in the text.

[1] In addition, Lucchesi points out that the story of Olibrius’ liberation from demonic possession is a trope found in another hagiographies of the time (such as those associated with Saints Apollonia, Gordian, Cyriacus, Epiphanius, Potitus, Abercius, Vitus, etc.).

[1] Hilary’s following was diffused across Tuscany and Romagna, especially in the dioceses of Arezzo, Sarsina, Forlì, Bertinoro, Faenza, Imola, Modigliana, Fiesole, Florence and at the abbey of Farfa.