Saint Anselm of Aosta
Born in Aosta, philosopher, Archbishop of Canterbury and Doctor of the Church (1033/1034-1109)
Saint Anselm is without doubt the most famous person ever born in the Aosta Valley. Born in Aosta, he became one of the great thinkers of the Middle Ages and Archbishop of Canterbury, in England.
From Aosta to the Abbey of Bec
Anselm was born in Aosta in 1033 or 1034. Around 1059 he arrived in Normandy, at the Abbey of Bec, where he became a pupil of the famous teacher Lanfranc. In 1078 the monks unanimously elected him abbot of Bec.
There he wrote his best-known works, the Monologion and the Proslogion, in which he sought to understand faith through reason.
Archbishop of Canterbury
In 1093 Anselm was elected Archbishop of Canterbury. His relations with the kings of England were difficult: from 1097 to 1100 he had to go into exile. It was in exile that he wrote Cur Deus homo (“Why God became man”). He returned in 1100 at the request of King Henry I.
He died on 21 April 1109 and lies in Canterbury Cathedral.
Saint and Doctor of the Church
His canonisation was begun by Thomas Becket and completed by Pope Alexander III. In 1720 Clement XI declared him a Doctor of the Church, a title reserved for the great theologians.
Source: Treccani, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani.
Main image: engraving by George Glover, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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