Saint Anselm: 12 April 2015

Patristic Readings

 Ninth Centenary 
of the death of St Anselm, 2009

   _{BXVI - General Audience, Wednesday 23 September 2009 - © Copyright 2009 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana}

Benedict XVI's Letter on the 9th Centenary of the Death of St Anselm
_{- in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese & Spanish}

To Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, Special Envoy to the celebrations for the Ninth Centenary 
of the death of St Anselm

Venerable Brother, in view of the celebrations in which you will be taking part as my Legate, in the illustrious city of Aosta for the ninth centenary of the death of St Anselm in Canterbury, on 21 April 1109,   

 Totus2us.com/vocation/church-fathers/st-anselm/

   For the Memorial of Saint Anselm:

 12 April 2015   

SECOND READING

From the Proslogion by Saint Anselm, bishop
(Cap. 14, 16, 26: Opera omnia, edit. Schmitt, Seccovii, 1938, 1, 111-113, 121-122)

Let me know you and love you, so that I may find my joy in you

My soul, have you found what you are looking for? You were looking for God, and you have discovered that he is the supreme being, and that you could not possibly imagine anything more perfect. You have discovered that this supreme being is life itself, light, wisdom, goodness, eternal blessedness and blessed eternity. He is everywhere, and he is timeless.

Lord my God, you gave me life and restored it when I lost it. Tell my soul that so longs for you what else you are besides what it has already understood, so that it may see you clearly. It stands on tiptoe to see more, but apart from what it has seen already, it sees nothing but darkness. Of course it does not really see darkness, because there is no darkness in you, but it sees that it can see no further because of the darkness in itself.

Surely, Lord, inaccessible light is your dwelling place, for no one apart from yourself can enter into it and fully comprehend you. If I fail to see this light it is simply because it is too bright for me. Still, it is by this light that I do see all that I can, even as weak eyes, unable to look straight at the sun, see all that they can by the sun’s light.

The light in which you dwell, Lord, is beyond my understanding. It is so brilliant that I cannot bear it, I cannot turn my mind’s eye toward it for any length of time. I am dazzled by its brightness, amazed by its grandeur, overwhelmed by its immensity, bewildered by its abundance.

O supreme and inaccessible light, O complete and blessed truth, how far you are from me, even though I am so near to you! How remote you are from my sight, even though I am present to yours! You are everywhere in your entirety, and yet I do not see you; in you I move and have my being, and yet I cannot approach you; you are within me and around me, and yet I do not perceive you.

O God, let me know you and love you so that I may find my joy in you; and if I cannot do so fully in this life, let me at least make some progress every day, until at last that knowledge, love and joy come to me in all their plenitude. While I am here on earth let me learn to know you better, so that in heaven I may know you fully; let my love for you grow deeper here, so that there I may love you fully. On earth then I shall have great joy in hope, and in heaven complete joy in the fulfilment of my hope.

O Lord, through your Son you command us, no, you counsel us to ask, and you promise that you will hear us so that our joy may be complete. Lord, I am making the request that you urge us to make through your Wonder-Counsellor. Give me then what you promise to give through your Truth. You, O God, are faithful; grant that I may receive my request, so that my joy may be complete.

Meanwhile, let this hope of mine be in my thoughts and on my tongue; let my heart be filled with it, my voice speak of it; let my soul hunger for it, my body thirst for it, my whole being yearn for it, until I enter into the joy of the Lord, who is Three in One, blessed for ever. Amen.

RESPONSORY

We honor Anselm, an outstanding doctor and a disciple of Lanfranc.
While an abbot he was greatly loved by his fellow monks, 
but he was called to serve as bishop.
– He fought strenuously for the freedom of holy church, alleluia.

He steadfastly asserted that the Church, the bride of Christ,
was not a slave but free.
– He fought strenuously for the freedom of holy church, alleluia.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Let us pray.

Father,
you called Saint Anselm
to study and teach the sublime truths you have revealed.
Let your gift of faith come to the aid of our understanding
and open our hearts to your truth.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

Sant 'Anselmo d'Aosta Bishop and Doctor of the Church April 21 - Optional Memory

Aosta, 1033 - Canterbury, England, April 21, 1109 Was born around 1033 in Aosta mother Piedmont, both noble and rich. Troubled relationship with the family that sends it from a relative for education. Only with the Benedictines Aosta that Anselmo finds its place: at fifteen feels the desire to become monaco. Thwarted by the parents decides to leave after three years between Burgundy and Central France, goes to Avranches in Normandy, where the abbey of Bec with the school, founded in 1034. There he met the Prior Lanfranco of Pavia who cure the course of study. Anselmo in 1060 entered the seminary Benedictine Bec, which will become prior. Here you will start its activities theological research which led him to be counted among the greatest theologians of the West. In 176 the public "Monologion." In 1093 became archbishop of Canterbury. Because of disagreements with the political power is forced into exile in Rome twice. He died in Canterbury in 1109.(Future) Etymology: Anselmo = protected by God, God is the helmet, from the German Emblem: Stick pastoral Martyrology: St. Anselm, bishop and doctor of the Church, who, born in Aosta, was first monaco in the monastery of Bec in Normandy in France; divenutone abbot, taught his brothers to pursue their quest for perfection and to seek God with the intellect of faith; then promoted all'insigne headquarters of Canterbury in England, fought valiantly for the freedom of the Church, for enduring this suffering and exile.  Listen to Vatican Radio:     Listen to RadioRai:     Listen to RadioMaria:

The famous St. Anselm is one of the greatest glories of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta, being born about 1033 in Aosta mother Piedmont. His parents were noble and rich: his mother Ermemberga was a perfect mother, while his father Gandolfo lived deep in secular affairs. Anselmo since his childhood he dreamed of being able to reach God and in its simplicity assumed that resided on top of the mountains. Already eager for knowledge, was entrusted to a relative for a thorough education, but not being understood by the brutal master fell into a terrible crisis of hypochondria. To heal it took all feel and loving kindness of her mother, who finally gave then to the Benedictines Aosta. At the age of fifteen Anselmo began to feel the desire to become monaco, but his father would not hear preferring to do heir of his possessions. The attractions of the world and the passions then prevailed on the young, especially after the death of his mother. The father, who died then monaco, took him in such aversion that Anselmo decided to leave the family home and in the company of a servant.  After three years between Burgundy and Central France, Anselmo went to Avranches, Normandy, when he learned of the abbey of Bec and his school, founded in 1034. He went there to learn about the prior, Lanfranco of Pavia, and stay with him, like so many other clerics attracted by the fame of his knowledge.Advances in the study were so surprising that the same Lanfranco taken prediligerlo and even enlist the assistance of his teaching. In this context Anselmo felt reborn in him the desire to dress the monk's habit. He would, however, other places where you can show off his wisdom without having to compete with the master Lanfranco, but finding no viable alternatives in 1060 he entered the seminary Benedictine Bec. After only three years of legal compliance deserved to succeed in Lanfranc as prior and director of the school, since it was intended to govern the abbey of Saint'Etienne de Caen. Despite the proliferation of responsibilities, Anselmo did not neglect to devote more and more to God and to the study, thus preparing them to solve the most obscure questions remained unanswered until then. Was not enough daylight hours to search the Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church, he used to spend the night in prayer and correcting manuscripts. We can get an idea of his teaching reading pamphlets and dialogues he left, some of which are real small masterpieces pedagogical and dogmatic.  St. Anselm was undoubtedly a great speculative, but also a great conductor of souls. The fame of his monastery is scattered everywhere and attracted elite hungry for science and religious perfection. He dealt with it in the first person with special care. Many of his 447 letters show the art that had to gain the hearts, adapting the age of each and pointing sull'affabilità way. On the death of Abbot Herluin, August 26, 1078 the brothers unanimously Anselmo designate it to succeed. The acuteness of intelligence, the extraordinary sweetness of character and holiness of life earned him a huge upward so the monastery as outside. Undertaken relations with the master Lanfranco, appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070, and contributed to the organization of some monasteries English: this allowed him also to be known by the nobility of the country and appreciate the court of London.  In 1076 he published Anselmo "Monologion" to satisfy the desire of the monks to meditate on the essence of God. This, his first work turned out a masterpiece for the density and clear thinking about the existence of God, his attributes and the Trinity. It was followed by the "Proslogion", the most famous of the previous year for the much discussed topic that came up with a demonstration of the existence of the Supreme Being, replacing the long and tedious arguments that had exposed the "Monologion". "God is the being of which no greater can be thought; the concept of such a being is in our mind, but such a being must also exist in reality, out of our minds, because, if it existed only in the mind, they might think another major one, namely, that there was not only in the mind but in real life outside of it. "  The fame of Anselmo spread even further across Europe. He was so revered and loved in England March 6, 1093, in response to pressure of the bishops, lords and all the people, he was elected by King William II the Red Archbishop of Canterbury, the seat now vacant by the death of Lanfranco took place in 1089 . Its resistance was tenacious but useless and in reference to the difficulties of understanding between the king and the primate said with the bishops and nobles who accompanied him: "You want to subjugate together a bull not domo and a poor sheep. The bull will drag the sheep through the brambles and dispatch them without it being served anything. Your joy will be turned into sadness. You will see the church of Canterbury fall in widowhood living his pastor. None of you will dare resist after me and the king will trample at will. "  The situation of the English Church was actually very sad at that time because of simony, the decay of morals and of the violation of religious freedom by the king. St. Anselm tried to remedy this, in the wake of the reform adopted by St. Gregory VII. Not aroused then wonder if, in 1095, broke out between the secular and religious authorities a bitter conflict about the recognition of Pope Urban II. Nothing convinced the archbishop to withdraw from his proposal and, after many difficulties, in 1097 he was able to go to Rome to see the Pope himself. They received him with great demonstrations of respect and in 1098 invited him to the Council of Bari, summoned to restore the unity of the Church members in 1054 consumatosi schism between East and West. In matters discussed Anselm appeared as the theologian of the Latins, refuting the objections of opponents victoriously against the procession of the Holy Spirit by both the other persons of the Holy Trinity. In 1099 again took part in the synod of Rome, which were reiterated decrees against simony, concubinage of the clergy and the lay reinvestitura. He then left for Lyon, where, however, was forced to stay for the king not authorized him to return to his seat. In Italy he had completed his great treatise on "Reasons of the Incarnation", while in Lyon it completed it another "On the virgin birth of Christ and original sin."  In 1110 Henry Beauclerc succeeded his brother William on the English throne and, wishing to have Archbishop of Canterbury among his supporters, invited him to return. The new king had no intention of giving up, however, to lord over the Church, which is why in 1103 Anselmo, unyielding in defense of his rights, he had a second time to go into exile in Rome. After long negotiations with the new Pope Paschal II, the king finally gave up on the investiture of ecclesiastical fiefs, content only homage. In 1106 the primate so he could return to his home and devote the intense pastoral work the last years of his life. No longer able to walk, he was transported daily to the church to attend Mass. On his deathbed he felt only regret not having had enough time to clarify the problem of the origin of the soul. St. Anselm died April 21, 1109 in Canterbury, and was buried in the famous cathedral. Pope Alexander III in 1163 granted to Archbishop Thomas Becket, proceeding to '"elevation" of the body of his predecessor, note that at that time corresponded in effect today be to canonization. Saint Anselm of Aosta was eventually counted among the Doctors of the Church by Pope Clement XI on 8 February 1720. The Martyrologium Romanum and the liturgical calendar of the universal Church commemorates the saint on the anniversary of the birth into heaven. Aosta, his hometown, has devoted the main street of the old town to the memory of its most famous son. Author: Fabio Arduino