Love, work, pray and suffer for the Church without ever abandoning or betraying it, Pope says
The Pope noted that the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Anselm stands on Rome’s Aventine Hill, a landmark known today as a “place of prayer, study and government, the three things that ruled the life of Anselm of Aosta”. This year is the 900th anniversary of the saint’s death.
The Aosta-born saint is also known as Anselm of Bec and Anselm of Canterbury, something that connects Italy, France and England to a “theologian, who had an extraordinary power of speculation,” who was “an educator” as well as “a defender of libertas Ecclesiae.”
He was “a mystical soul, founder of scholasticism, described as a magnificent scholar for nurturing a desire to get into the divine mysteries in greater depth knowing that the march of God’s knowledge is never achieved, at least on this earth.”
For the Pontiff, what Saint Anselm said, even today remains “useful for healthy theological research by anyone interested in deeper knowledge.”
“Anyone who wants to do theology must not count on intelligence alone, but on a deep experience of faith as well.” This activity unfolds in three phases: faith as God’s gift, experience (which incarnates the Word in life) and true knowledge (not by reasoning alone).
“I wish to understand, at least to a certain point, your truth [. . .]. Indeed, I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe,—that unless I believed, I should not understand,” the saint wrote.
Anselm was born in Aosta in 1033 in noble family, the Pope said. His father was “harsh, dedicated to the pleasures of life, who squandered the family’s wealth.” His mother was very religious and took care of his education, which was later entrusted with the Benedictines of Aosta.
“As a child, Anselm imagined living in snowy mountain tops,” and “dreamt of being invited there.” He liked to talk and was given some “snow-white bred.”
At the age of 15, he wanted to enter a monastery but his father refused despite the illness that afflicted him. After his recovery, he led a morally dissolute life. During this period, his mother died.
He eventually left for France and, in 1059, contacted the Benedictine Monastery of Notre-Dame du Bec, in Normandy, ruled at the time by Lanfranc of Pavia. When the two met proved to be “providential and decisive.” Under Lanfranc’s direction, Anselm plunged back into his studies, quickly becoming the master’s favourite pupil and confidant.
At the age of 27, he entered the monastic order. “Ascesis and study opened new horizons for him.” In 1063, after only three years of monastic life, he was appointed prior and master, showing his qualities as a refined educator who disliked coercion. He “gave young people a good deal of freedom” and was against “imposing discipline, preferring instead the use of persuasion in order to see it accepted.”
At this time, many monks were sent to Canterbury, where “their work was well accepted.” Here Anselm met Lanfranc who had been appointed the city’s new archbishop. His former teacher asked Anselm to stay for a while, and upon his death, succeeded him as archbishop of Canterbury.
In England, Anselm got down to work and showed “courage in upholding the independence of spiritual power against temporal power, defending the Church from political interference, finding encouragement and endorsement in the Roman pontiff to whom he gave courageous and cordial support.” The price he paid for this was exile.
He came back, “warmly welcomed,” only when King Henri I in 1106 “gave up his claim to make Church appointments, tax Church properties or seize them.”
In his final years, Anselm focused on the moral training of the clergy and the study of theological matters. He passed away in 1109.
Finally, “may the courageous zeal that embodied his pastoral action—and occasionally led to misunderstandings, acrimony and even exile—encourage pastors, consecrated people and all the faithful to love the Church of Christ, pray, work and suffer for it without abandoning or betraying it,” the Pope said.
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