Anselm of Canterbury


Anselm

Archbishop of Canterbury
Doctor of the Church
Anselm depicted on his seal
ChurchCatholic Church
ArchdioceseCanterbury
SeeCanterbury
Appointed1093
Term ended21 April 1109
PredecessorLanfranc
SuccessorRalph d'Escures
Other post(s)Abbot of Bec
Orders
Consecration4 December 1093
Personal details
Born
Anselme d'Aoste

c. 1033
Died21 April 1109
Canterbury, England
BuriedCanterbury Cathedral
ParentsGundulph
Ermenberge
OccupationMonk, prior, abbot, archbishop
Sainthood
Feast day21 April
Venerated inCatholic Church
Anglican Communion[1]
Lutheranism[2]
Title as SaintBishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church
(Doctor Magnificus)
Canonized4 October 1494
Rome, Papal States
by Pope Alexander VI
AttributesHis mitre, pallium, and crozier
His books
A ship, representing the spiritual independence of the Church.

Philosophy career
Notable workProslogion
Cur Deus Homo
EraMedieval philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
SchoolScholasticism
Neoplatonism[3]
Augustinianism
Main interests
Metaphysics, theology
Notable ideas
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Anselm of Canterbury OSB (/ˈænsɛlm/; 1033/4–1109), also called Anselm of Aosta (French: Anselme d'Aoste, Italian: Anselmo d'Aosta) after his birthplace and Anselm of Bec (French: Anselme du Bec) after his monastery, was an Italian[7] Benedictine monk, abbot, philosopher, and theologian of the Catholic Church, who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. After his death, he was canonized as a saint; his feast day is 21 April. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by a papal bull of Pope Clement XI in 1720.

As Archbishop of Canterbury, he defended the church's interests in England amid the Investiture Controversy. For his resistance to the English kings William II and Henry I, he was exiled twice: once from 1097 to 1100 and then from 1105 to 1107. While in exile, he helped guide the Greek Catholic bishops of southern Italy to adopt Roman rites at the Council of Bari. He worked for the primacy of Canterbury over the archbishop of York and over the bishops of Wales but, though at his death he appeared to have been successful, Pope Paschal II later reversed papal decisions on the matter and restored York's earlier status.

Beginning at Bec, Anselm composed dialogues and treatises with a rational and philosophical approach, which have sometimes caused him to be credited as the founder of Scholasticism. Despite his lack of recognition in this field in his own time, Anselm is now famous as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of God and of the satisfaction theory of atonement.

  1. ^ Church Pension Fund (2010), p. [page needed].
  2. ^ "Notable Lutheran Saints". Resurrectionpeople.org. Archived from the original on 16 May 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  3. ^ Charlesworth (2003), pp. 23–24.
  4. ^ Smith (2014), p. 66.
  5. ^ Davies & Leftow (2004), p. 120.
  6. ^ Marrone (2014), p. 146.
  7. ^ "Saint Anselm of Canterbury". Britannica.com. Retrieved 24 November 2018.