Anselm of Canterbury

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[4] 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 bull of Pope Clement XI in 1720.

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Saint Anselm OSB
Archbishop of Canterbury Doctor of the Church
Anselm described on his stamp
Church	Catholic Church
Archdiocese	Canterbury
See	Canterbury
Appointed	1093
Term ended	21 April 1109
Predecessor	Lanfranc
Successor	Ralph d'Escures
Other post(s)	Abbot of Bec
Orders
Consecration	4 December 1093
Personal details
Born	Anselme d'Aoste c. 1033 Aosta, Kingdom of Burgundy, Holy Roman Empire
Died	21 April 1109 Canterbury, England
Buried	Canterbury Cathedral
Parents	Gundulph Ermenberge
Occupation	Monk, prior, abbot, archbishop
Sainthood
Feast day	21 April
Venerated in	Catholic Church Anglican Communion[1] Lutheranism[2]
Title as Saint	Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church (Doctor Magnificus)
Canonized	4 October 1494 Rome, Papal States by Pope Alexander VI
Attributes	His mitre, pallium, and crozier His books A ship, representing the spiritual independence of the Church.
Philosophy career
Notable work	Proslogion Cur Deus Homo
Era	Medieval philosophy
Region	Western philosophy British philosophy Italian philosophy
School	Scholasticism Neoplatonism[3] Augustinianism
Main interests	Metaphysics, theology
Notable ideas	Argument from Degree Ontological argument Satisfaction theory of atonement

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 famed as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of God and of the satisfaction theory of atonement.