10. To Adelaide
The Letters of St. Anselm inevitably cool down when he can find no enemy to strike.
Wherefore, dearly beloved, as it is written that we have to enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations,3 when we are being chastised, let us hold the opinion of blessed
Job concerning the relationship between us and God: while surrounded by many afflictions he said: May this be my con solation, that in afflicting me, he spares me no pains.4
Not later than 1075.
NOTES 1. See Ep 1.
2. Heb 12:6.
3. Ac 14:22.
4. Jb 6:10.
10. TO ADELAIDE
Anselm sends Adelaide, the daughter of King William, the 'Flowers of the psalms' and adds seven prayers of his own. He closes with a brief encouragement to live a holy life.
TO THE VENERABLE ADELAIDE,1 A LADY OF ROYAL NOBILITY BUT
NOBLER IN THE CHARACTER OF A VIRTUOUS LIFE: BROTHER AN
SELM, WISHING THAT YOUR EARTHLY NOBILITY MAY BE SO
ADORNED WITH THE ORNAMENT OF VIRTUES THAT IT MAY
DESERVE TO BE UNITED WITH THE KING OF KINGS IN ETERNAL FE
LICITY.
AS TO THE 'FLOWERS of the Psalms' that your highness, dear to me in God, has deigned to require of me, our faithful humility could not carry it out for you more speedily or any better.2 For our obedience followed your command devot edly, to the degree that the command itself proceeded from holy devotion. I wish and I pray that Almighty God may so preserve and nourish this devotion in you that he may fill your mind with his sweetest affection on earth and in
The Letters of St. Anselm
heaven with his blessed sight. I beg your wealthy nobility not to despise the small and worthless gift which our poor paltriness sends you. For although it is not encrusted with gold and gems, it is certainly made entirely of charitable fidelity and given with faithful charity.
After the 'Flowers of the Psalms' seven 'Prayers'3 have been added. The first of these should not so much be called
'Prayer' as 'Meditation'4 in which the soul of the sinner briefly contemplates itself; contemplating, it despises itself; despising, it humiliates itself; humiliating, it agitates itself by the terror of the last judgement, and through this agita tion it breaks down in groans and tears. But in the prayers to Saint Stephen5 and Saint Mary Magdalen6 there are some passages which, if they are recited from the inmost heart when it is at leisure, tend instead to increase love's flame.
But in all seven I, the servant and friend of your soul, ad monish you to deign to take notice—although you would do this better—with what humility and with what a sense of fear and love the sacrifice of prayer should be offered.
Farewell in God both now and in eternity; farewell, and take the little book sent as a pledge of our loyalty in God and of our prayers, for what they are worth.
At the end of the letter, I utter what I wanted to instil throughout the letter: despise with an elevated mind every thing that must be given up even while you have it. Strive with a humble mind towards that which alone can bless edly be kept for ever as long as you do not have it. This is what I want to convince you of and I pray the Ffoly Spirit may convince you of. With this in mind, I say for the third time, farewell. c. 1071.
NOTES 1. Adelaide or Adeliza, a daughter of King William the Conqueror, be came a nun; see EHD, II: 985; Douglas, William the Conqueror (Lon don, 1964), 391-395; Southern, Anselm, 36, 37, 42, 47; B.Ward, Prayers