April 21: The Feast of St. Anselm

Today the Holy Church commemorates St. Anselm, Doctor and Bishop of the Church during the 11th-12th centuries. He was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Clement XI in 1720.

We beseech Thee, O Lord, that heavenly grace may give increase to Thy Church, which Thou wert pleased to make illustrious by the glorious merits and teaching of blessed Anselm Thy confessor and bishop. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. (Collect Prayer of the Mass)

This reading is taken from the Divine Office of the Church for today.

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Anselm was born at Aosta, a town on the confines of Italy, of noble and Catholic parents, by name Gondolphe and Hermenberga. From his early childhood he gave great promise of future holiness and learning by his love of study and his longing after a life of perfection.

The ardour of youth (juvenili ardore) made him indulge for a while in worldly pleasures; but he speedily returned to his former virtuous life; and then, leaving his country and all that he possessed, he repaired to the Monastery of Bec, of the Order of St. Benedict. There he made his religious profession, under the Abbot Herluin, a most zealous lover of monastic discipline, and Lanfranc, a man of great repute for learning.

Such was the fervour of his piety, his application to study, and his desire to advance in virtue, that everyone held him in the highest veneration as a model of holiness and learning.

So mortified was he in eating and drinking, and so frequent were his fasts (Abstinentiae et continentiae tantae fuit), that he seemed to have lost the sense of taste (ciborum sensus in eo videretur exstinctus).

He spent the day in the performance of monastic duties, and in giving answers, both by word of mouth and by letters, to the several questions proposed to him concerning matters of religion. He passed a considerable portion of the time allotted to sleep in nourishing his soul with holy meditations, during which he shed abundant tears.

When he was made Prior of the Monastery, certain of his brethren were jealous at his promotion; but he so far gained them over by charity, humility and prudence, that their jealousy was changed into love both of their Prior and their God, to the great advantage of regular discipline.

At the death of the Abbot, Anselm was chosen to succeed him, and reluctantly accepted the office. It was then that his reputation for learning and virtue began to spread far and wide, and secured him the respect of kings and bishops.

Not only so, but even Gregory the Seventh, who at that time was suffering much from persecution, honoured him with his friendship, and wrote to him letters full of affection, begging of him to pray for him and the Church.

At the death of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had been his former master, Anselm was compelled, much against his own will, to accept the government of that See. William, king of England, the clergy and the people, all urged him to it. He immediately set himself to reform the corrupt morals of the people.

By word and example, first, and then by his writings, and by holding councils, he succeeded in restoring ancient piety and ecclesiastical discipline. But it was not long before King William attempted, both by violence and threats, to interfere with the rights of the Church. Then did Anselm resist him with priestly courage, for which his property was confiscated, and he himself banished from the country.

He turned his steps towards Rome, where Urban the Second received him with great marks of honour, and passed a high encomium upon him at the Council of Bari, where Anselm proved against the Greeks, by innumerable quotations from the Scriptures and the Holy Fathers (innumeris Scripturarum et sanctorum Patrum testimoniis), that the Holy Ghost proceeds also from the Son.

After William's death, he was recalled to England by King Henry, William's brother. Shortly after his return, he slept in the Lord.

He was justly venerated on account of his miracles and his virtues, among which latter may be mentioned his great devotion to the Passion, and to the Holy Mother of Jesus (insignem devotionem erga Domini nostri Passionem, et beatam Virginem ejus Matrem).

He moreover acquired a high reputation by his learning, which he used in the defense of the Christian religion, and for the good of souls. He first set the example to those theologians who have followed the scholastic method in treating on the sacred sciences. The works he has written prove that his wisdom was a gift bestowed on him by heaven.

V. Anselmus mansuetudine agnus, fortitudine leo, caelesti doctrina supereffluens, mentes hominum illustravit, alleluia

R. Beatus Anselmus saeculi principes docebat, dicens: Nihil amplius diligit Deus in hoc mundo, quam Ecclesiae suae libertatem, alleluia