New Advent
 Home   Encyclopedia   Summa   Fathers   Bible   Library 
 A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z 
New Advent
Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > A > St. Anselm of Lucca, the Younger

St. Anselm of Lucca, the Younger

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

Born at Mantua c. 1036; d. in the same city, 18 March, 1086. He was nephew of Anselm of Lucca, the Elder, who ascended the Papal throne as Alexander II in 1061. In the year 1071 Alexander II designated Anselm as Bishop of Lucca and sent him to Germany to take investiture from Henry IV. Anselm went to Germany, but was loath to receive the insignia of spiritual power from a temporal ruler and returned without investiture. In 1073 Gregory VII, successor of Alexander II, also appointed Anselm Bishop of Lucca, but advised him not to accept his ring and crosier from Henry IV. For some reason, Anselm accepted investiture from Henry, but soon felt such remorse that he resigned his bishopric and entered the Order of St. Benedict at Padilirone, a monastery of the Cluniac Reform, situated near Mantua. Gregory VII ordered him to return to his episcopal see at Lucca. Anselm returned reluctantly, but continued to lead time life of a monk until his death. Inspired, like Gregory VII, with a holy zeal to reform the clergy, he wished to impose stricter discipline upon the canons of his cathedral. Most of the canons refused to submit to Anselms regulations, and in 1081 he was expelled from Lucca with the help of the Emperor and his antipope, Guibert. Anselm now retired to the castle of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany, whose spiritual adviser he was. Some time later he was made Papal Legate of Lombardy with instructions to rule over all the dioceses which, during the conflict between pope and emperor, had been left without bishops. Anselm was well versed in the Scriptures and wrote some exegetical and ascetical works. In his work "Contra Guibertum et sequaces ejus" he shows the unlawfulness of lay-investiture and defends Gregory against the Antipope Guibert. He also made a collection of canons which afterwards were incorporated into the well-known "Decretum" of Gratian. Mantua, the city of his birth and death, honours him as its patron.

Sources

RANBECK, A Benedictine Calender (London, 1896); MONTALEMBERT, Les moines doceident (Paris, 1882), VI, 473 sqq.; GUERIN, Les petits Bollandistes (Paris), III, 498; LECHNER, Martyrologium des Benediktiner-Ordens (Augsburg, 1855).

About this page

APA citation. Ott, M. (1907). St. Anselm of Lucca, the Younger. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01550d.htm

MLA citation. Ott, Michael. "St. Anselm of Lucca, the Younger." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01550d.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by W.S. French, Jr. Dedicated to the Rev. Anselm G. Biggs, O.S.B. (Belmont Abbey, Belmont, N.C., U.S.A.).

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.

Copyright © 2023 by New Advent LLC. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

CONTACT US | ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT