ST. ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH (A.D. 1109)
St. Anselm was born at Aosta in Piedmont probably in the year 1033. He lived a wordily life but later became a pupil, friend and disciple of abbot Lanfranc under whose tutelage and guidance he became a monk at the age of 27 at Bec, in the year 1060.
Three years after, he was elected the prior of Bec. It was noted that his patience and meekness attracted him the allegiance of all. He is also reckoned for his humongous prowess of rationality and independence of thought. He is a profound scholar and as such, the greatest theologian of his time and the father scholasticism. He made a remarkable success in metaphysics with his Monologium and Proslogium where he gave an incisive analysis on the existence and nature of God, as well as treatise on truth, on freewill, on the origin of evil and on the art of reasoning. His Cur Deus Homo is said to be the highest treatise ever written on the Incarnation.
In 1078, he became the abbot of Bec and later the archbishop of Canterbury after series of dichotomy with king William Rufus in the year 1078. His bishopric was punctuated with a whole lot of challenges arising from the unscrupulous and overambitious monarchs of Canterbury at this time, which he fought vehemently and pragmatically. Later, a pact was made with King Henry, which brought this loggerhead to an end. St. Anselm died amidst the monks of Canterbury in 1109. He was one of the first to propel the prohibition of slave trade. In 1720, he was declared a doctor of the church, but he was never formally canonized. His body still lies in the Cathedral Church of Canterbury, in the chapel known as St Anselm’s.