HE was a native of Mantua, and was educated there in grammer and
dialectics. Having entered himself among the clergy, he spent some time
in the study of theology and the canon law, and laid that foundation of
learning, which, joined with his natural genius and eminent virtue,
qualified him to rise to the highest degree of excellence. Anselm
Badagius, a Milanese, bishop of Lucca, was chosen pope in 1061, and took
the name of Alexander II. He nominated our saint his successor in the
see of Lucca; and he took a journey into Germany to the emperor, Henry
IV., but out of a scruple refused to receive the investiture of the
bishopric from that prince, so that the pope was obliged to keep in his
own hands the administration of the see of Lucca. St. Gregory VII., who
succeeded Alexander II., in 1073, ordered Anselm to receive the
investiture from Henry. This compliance gave our saint such remorse,
that he left his see, and took the monastic habit at Cluni. The pope
obliged him to return to his bishopric, which he did. His zeal soon
raised him enemies: by virtue of a decree of pope Gregory IX. he
attempted to reform the canons of his cathedral, and to oblige them to
live in community: this they obstinately refused to do, though they were
interdicted by the pope, and afterwards excommunicated in a council, in
which Peter Igneus, the famous bishop of Albano, presided in the name of
{619} his holiness. The holy countess, Maud, undertook to expel the
refractory canons, but they raised a sedition, and, being supported by
the emperor Henry, drove the bishop out of the city, in 1079. St. Anselm
retired to the countess Maud, whose director he was; for he was
eminently experienced in the paths of an interior life, and, in the
greatest hurry of business, he always reserved several hours in the day,
which he consecrated to prayer, and attended only to God and himself.
While he studied or conversed with others, his heart was virtually
united to God, and every object served as it were naturally to raise his
affections afresh to his Creator. Pope Gregory suffered him not to bury
himself in his retreat, but, during his exile, appointed him apostolic
legate in Lombardy, charging him with the care of several dioceses in
those parts, which, through the iniquity of the times, had continued
long vacant. St. Anselm wrote an apology for Gregory VII., in which he
shows that it belongs not to temporal princes to give pastors to the
church of Christ, and to confute the pretensions of the antipope,
Guibert.[1] In another work he proves, that temporal princes cannot
dispose of the revenues of the church. St. Anselm died at Mantua on the
18th of March, in 1086. His name occurs on this day in the Roman
Martyrology, and he is honored at Mantua as patron of that city. Baldus,
his penitentiary, has written his life, in which he ascribes to him
several miracles. See it in Canisius's Lect. Antiq. t. 3, p. 372.
Footnotes:
1. This work is published by Canisius, Lect. Antiq. t. 3, p. 389, and
Bibl. Patr. Lugdun, t. 18, Colon. t. 1{2}.