 The Christians of Poitiers so respected Hilary that about 350 or 353, they unanimously elected him their bishop.At that time Arianism threatened to overrun the Western Church; Hilary undertook to repel the disruption.One of his first steps was to secure the excommunication, by those of the Gallican hierarchy who still remained orthodox Christians, of Saturninus, the Arian Bishop of Arles, and of Ursacius of Singidunum and Valens of Mursa, two of his prominent supporters.