St. Anselm, who has been called the acutest thinker and profoundest
theologian of his day, was born in Piedmont about 1032. Educated
under the celebrated Lanfranc, he went to England in 1093 and became
Archbishop of Canterbury. He was banished by William Rufus as a
result of a conflict between royal and ecclesiastical prerogative.
He died in 1109. Neale calls him the last of the great fathers
except St. Bernard, and adds that "he probably possessed the
greatest genius of all except St. Augustine."
The sermon here given, the third of the sixteen extant, is given
entire from Neale's translation. It is one of the best examples of
the Middle-Age style of interpreting all Scripture as metaphor and
parable. It contains, moreover, a number of striking passages, such
as, "It is a proof of great virtue to struggle with happiness."