Anselm, Saint (1033-1109), was an influential Christian theologian and church leader. He became famous for his long essays Monologion and Proslogion. In both works, Anselm attempted to prove the existence of God through reason. His best-known argument, which appears in Proslogion, states that the existence of the idea of God necessarily means that God exists. Anselm also wrote Cur Deus Homo. This book argues that only the death of a God-man like Jesus Christ could fulfill the debt that sinful humanity owed to God.
Anselm was born in Aosta, Italy. He joined the Benedictine monastery of Bec in France in about 1060. There he studied with Lanfranc, a noted Italian monk and scholar. Anselm rose rapidly in the organization of the monastery and became the abbot in 1078. In 1093, he was appointed archbishop of Canterbury, the most important religious position in England. He held the post for the rest of his life. Anselm went into exile from 1097 to 1100 and again from 1103 to 1107 because he opposed the king’s power to select church officials. Anselm’s feast day is April 21. He died on April 21, 1109.
