Saint Anselm of Canterbury

His life:

+ Anselm was born in the Piedmont region of Italy. When he was 27, he entered the English Benedictine abbey of Bec (in Normandy), becoming the community’s abbot in 1078.

+ As abbot, Anselm was beloved as a preacher and reformer. In 1093, he succeeded his former teacher, Lanfranc, as archbishop of Canterbury.

+ Shortly after his episcopal consecration, Anselm came into conflict with King William Rufus, whose unjust policies forced Anselm to leave England. After traveling to the great abbey at Cluny and to Rome, he returned to England only after learning of the king’s death.

+ Conflicts with the new king forced Anselm to flee to Rome. Pope Paschal II defended Anselm’s claims to authority over the English church. He returned to Canterbury in 1106 and died there on April 21, 1109.

+ Known as a man of recollection and learning, Anselm’s writings have had a profound impact on Catholic thought and he is honored as the “Father of Scholasticism.”

+ Especially remembered for his Prosologion, the treatise Cur Deus Homo, and his ontological argument for the existence of God, Anselm was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1720.

For prayer and reflection:

“The Lord has risen from the dead, as he said;
let us all exult and rejoice,
for he reigns for all eternity, alleluia.”
—Entrance Antiphon for Monday in the Octave of Easter

Prayer

O God, who give constant increase
to your Church by new offspring,
grant that your servants may hold fast in their lives
to the Sacrament they have received in faith.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal: Collect for Monday in the Octave of Easter)

Saint profiles prepared by Father Silas Henderson, S.D.S.