Who Was St. Anselm?
Q. Who was St. Anselm? I.N., via email A. There are at least two canonized saints with this name; I assume that you’re asking about the one who is best known, whose feast day is celebrated today. St. Anselm (c. 1033-1109) was a medieval Italian abbot who became Archbishop of Canterbury, England. He spent much of his time defending the rights of the Church against power-hungry English kings. But he is best known as a preeminent theologian, a Doctor of the Church. St. Anselm has been called “the Father” of the Christian school of philosophy and theology known as Scholasticism, whose most famous representative was St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274). Anselm insisted that revelation and reason can be harmonized. He was the first to incorporate successfully into Christian theology the philosophical insights and method of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. The saint’s works have influenced great thinkers all the way down to modern philosophers such as Descartes and Hegel. He is perhaps b
