April 21

 

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Anselm of Aosta (ca. 1033-1109) monk and pastor

Anselm of Aosta, a monk and pastor, died in Canterbury in 1109.
He was born in Aosta, Italy around the year 1033. In his early twenties he left his city and began to travel, visiting the monasteries and spiritual centers of his time. At the abbey of Bec in Normandy he met the abbot Lanfranc, an erudite theologian, who made a profound impression on Anselm and convinced him to remain at Bec and become a monk.
Anselm was already an enthusiastic student of philosophy and theology, and he found the austere quiet of Normandy to be the ideal environment in which to pursue his studies.
In search of a more precise and accurate understanding of Christian faith, he developed a new method to investigate theological questions, which flowered into medieval scholasticism.
He became prior and then abbot of Bec, and in 1093 he was called to succeed Lanfranc as Archbishop of Canterbury. As head of the English Church, he became a personal friend of the King of England, but he still fought to liberate the Church from political influence and was forced into exile twice.
Despite the setbacks he underwent, Anselm's life was permeated by deep peace and joy, the fruit of his contemplation of God and the divine mystery. His teachings are suffused with this serene joy, and also with a gentle compassion for Christ's sufferings that strongly influenced the Cistercians, giving life to a rich new current of Western spirituality.

BIBLICAL READINGS
Wis 9:13-18; Rom 5:8-11; Lk 21:9-15

 

THE CHURCHES REMEMBER...

ANGLICANS:
Anselm, abbot of Bec, archbishop of Canterbury, teacher of the faith

WESTERN CATHOLICS:
Anselm, bishop and doctor of the church (Roman and Ambrosian calendars)

COPTS AND ETHIOPIANS (13 barmudah/miyazya):
Joshua and Joseph (?), monks and martyrs (Coptic Church)

LUTHERANS:
Anselm of Canterbury, doctor of the church in England

ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS AND GREEK CATHOLICS:
Januarius, bishop of Benevento, and companions (d. ca. 305), martyrs
Theodore of Perge (2nd cent.), martyr (Melkite Church)