St. Anselm of Canterbury
Feast 04-21 · Canonized 1494
Patron of
About
Anselm was born around 1033 in Aosta, in the Italian Alps. He left home as a young man and became a monk at the abbey of Bec in Normandy, where he taught and wrote, and where he composed his famous works on the existence of God, including the Proslogion with its ontological argument.
In 1093 he became Archbishop of Canterbury, where he defended the rights of the Church against the English kings and was twice exiled. His writings on the atonement, Cur Deus Homo, shaped Western theology for centuries.
He died in 1109 and was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1720. He is venerated as a patron of philosophers and theologians.
Suggested prayer
O God, who taught Anselm that faith seeks understanding and gave him courage to defend Your Church in exile, grant through his intercession that philosophers and theologians may let faith enlighten their reason and their reason serve the truth. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.