# Matins Nocturn 2 reading for St. Anselm, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor
# of the Church (Apr 21). Sourced directly from
# web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/04-21.txt, English/Sancti/04-21.txt.
# Lectio4-6 combined into one reading, one continuous vita. Nocturn 3
# (Lectio7-9) is a direct `@Commune/C4a:LectioN in 2 loco`
# cross-reference to the Common of a Confessor Bishop Doctor, not
# transcribed here.
id: st-anselm
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    text:
      la: >-
        Ansélmus, Augustæ Prætoriæ in finibus Itáliæ, Gundulpho et Ermemberga,
        nobílibus et catholicis parentibus natus, a teneris annis assiduo litterarum
        studio, atque perfectióris vitæ desiderio, non obscurum futuræ sanctitatis et
        doctrinæ specimen dedit. Et licet juvenili ardore aliquando ad sæculi illecebras
        traheretur, brevi tamen in pristinam viam revocatus, patria et bonis omnibus
        derelictis, ad monasterium Beccense ordinis sancti Benedicti se contulit: ubi
        emissa regulari professione sub Herluino abbate observantissimo, et Lanfranco
        viro doctissimo, tanto animi fervore, et jugi studio in litteris et virtutibus
        assequendis profecit, ut mirum in modum tamquam sanctitatis et doctrinæ exemplar
        ab omnibus haberetur.


        Abstinentiæ et continentiæ tantæ fuit, ut assiduitate jejunii omnis pene
        ciborum sensus in eo videretur exstinctus. Diurno enim tempore in exercitiis
        monasticis docendo, et respondendo variis de religione quæsitis, emenso, quod
        reliquum erat noctis, somno subtrahebat, ut divinis meditationibus, quas
        perenni lacrimarum imbre fovebat, mentem recrearet. Electus in priorem
        monasterii invidos fratres ita caritate, humilitate, et prudentia lenivit, ut
        quos æmulos acceperat, sibi et Deo amicos, maximo cum regularis observantiæ
        emolumento redderet. Mortuo abbate, et in ejus locum (licet invitus) suffectus,
        tanta doctrinæ et sanctitatis fama ubique refulsit, ut non modo regibus et
        episcopis venerationi esset, sed sancto Gregorio septimo étiam acceptus, qui
        tunc magnis persecutionibus agitatus, litteras amoris plenas ad eum dedit,
        quibus se et Ecclesiam catholicam ejus orationibus commendabat.


        Defuncto Lanfranco archiepiscopo Cantuariensi, ejus olim præceptore, Anselmus,
        urgente Willelmo Angliæ rege, et instantibus clero ac populo, ipso tamen
        repugnante, ad ejusdem ecclesiæ regimen vocatus, statim (ut corruptos populi
        mores reformaret) verbo et exemplo prius, dein scriptis, et conciliis
        celebratis, pristinam pietatem, et ecclesiasticam disciplinam reduxit. Sed cum
        mox idem Willelmus rex vi et minis Ecclesiæ jura usurpare tentasset, ipse
        sacerdotali constantia restitit; bonorumque direptionem, et exsilium passus,
        Romam ad Urbanum secundum se contulit: a quo honorifice exceptus, et summis
        laudibus ornatus est, cum in Barensi concilio Spiritum Sanctum étiam a Filio
        procedentem contra Græcorum errorem innumeris Scripturarum, et sanctorum
        Patrum testimoniis propugnasset. E vivis Willelmo sublato, ab Henrico rege ejus
        fratre in Angliam revocatus, obdormivit in Domino, famam non solum
        miraculorum, et sanctitatis (præcipue ob insignem devotionem erga Domini
        nostri passionem, et beatam Virginem ejus Matrem) assecutus, sed étiam
        doctrinæ, quam ad defensionem christianæ religionis, animarum profectum, et
        omnium theologorum, qui sacras litteras scholastica methodo tradiderunt,
        normam cælitus hausisse ex ejus libris omnibus apparet.
      en: >-
        Anselm was born of noble and Catholic parents, named Gundulph and Hermenberga,
        at Aosta, in Piedmont. From his tenderest years his diligence in study, and his
        aspirations to a more perfect state of life, gave no indistinct foreshadowing of
        the holiness and learning to which he afterwards attained. The heat of youth
        drew him for a while into the snares of the world, but he soon returned to his
        first courses, and, forsaking his country and his goods, betook himself to the
        monastery of Bec, under the rule of St. Benedict. There he made his profession
        as a monk, and under the rigid discipline of Herluin, the Abbot, and the
        learned instruction of the profound Lanfranc, with great zeal of spirit and
        eager obedience to the Rule, he made such progress in learning and godliness,
        that he shone before all others as an example of holiness of life, and power of
        doctrine.


        Certification and purity were his marked characteristics, and by constant
        fasting all taste for food seemed to have died in him. He spent the day in the
        monastic work, in teaching, and in answering hard questions upon religion, and
        he took away from sleep during what remained to him of the night, that he might
        refresh his soul by thoughts of God, wherein he was alway comforted by an
        unceasing flow of tears. When he was chosen Prior of the monastery, he so won
        over, by his charity, lowliness, and wisdom, some brethren who looked ill upon
        him, that from enviers, as he had found them, he turned them into lovers of God
        and of himself likewise, with exceeding gain to the strictness of observance in
        that Abbey. After the death of the Abbot, Anselm, though against his own will,
        was chosen to succeed him. In this high place the light of his learning and
        holiness so shone all round about, that he was reverenced not only by Kings and
        Bishops, but was taken up by the holy Pope Gregory VII., who, amid the great
        persecutions which were then trying him, wrote with words of great love to
        Anselm to recommend himself and the Catholic Church to his prayers.


        After the death of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm, whose teacher
        Lanfranc had formerly been, was driven by William II., King of England,
        supported by the entreaties of the clergy and people, though sorely against his
        own wishes to take upon him the government of that Church. Raised to that See,
        he straightway set himself to reform the corrupt manners of the people, and,
        first by his word and example, and then by his writings and the Councils which
        he held, succeeded in restoring the ancient godliness and discipline of the
        Church. But when the aforesaid King William tried by force and threats to
        seize on the rights of the Church, Anselm withstood him as beseemed a Priest,
        and after that he had suffered the plundering of all his goods and been sent
        into banishment, he betook himself to Rome to Urban II. There he was received
        with great worship, and won high praise for that in the Council of Bari, he
        maintained by countless proofs from Scripture and the holy Fathers, against the
        error of the Greeks, that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Son also. When
        William lived no more, his brother Henry I., King of England, called back
        Anselm thither, and there he fell asleep in the Lord. His is a name illustrious
        not for miracles only, nor for holiness, and indeed he had a wondrous love for
        his Lord Who had suffered for him, and for the blessed Maiden Mother of the
        Same our Lord, but also for the deep learning which he used for the defence of
        the Christian Religion and the good of souls. That wonderful knowledge of
        theology which he had, and which is shown in all the books which he wrote,
        seemeth to have been given him from heaven for the teaching of all writers on
        the same subject, who have used what is called the Scholastic method.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }
