Portal:Catholic Church/Patron April/March 21

Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033 – April 21, 1109) was an Italian medieval philosopher, theologian, and church official who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. Called the founder of scholasticism, he is famous as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of God and as the archbishop who openly opposed the Crusades.Anselm was born in the city of Aosta in the Kingdom of Burgundy (currently the capital of the Aosta Valley in Northern Italy). His family was noble and owned considerable property. His father, Gundulph, was by birth a Lombard and seems to have been harsh and violent. Ermenberga, his mother, was regarded as prudent and virtuous. She gave young Anselm careful religious instruction.At the age of fifteen, Anselm desired to enter a monastery but could not obtain his father's consent. Disappointment brought on apparent psychosomatic illness. After recovery, he gave up his studies and lived a carefree life. During this period, his mother died and his father's harshness became unbearable. In 1059, he left home, crossed the Alps and wandered through Burgundy and France. Attracted by the fame of his countryman Lanfranc (then prior of the Benedictine Abbey of Bec), Anselm entered Normandy. The following year, after some time at Avranches, he entered the abbey as a novice at the age of twenty-seven. Attributes:Bishop; Confessor; Doctor of the Church; Philosopher; Theologian; Portrayed with a ship, representing the spiritual independence of the Church. Patronage: Prayer: