142. TO GILBERT, ABBOT OF: Westminster.
The Letters of St. Anselm
we request in it kindly let us know the will of the commu nity in a letter of your kindness, marked with your seal, before brother Moses sets out from here. c. 1091.
NOTES 1. After Lanfranc's death on 24 May 1089, Gundulf, as Bishop of Rochester, was administrator of Christ Church, Canterbury, until the new archbishop took possession of his church.
2. See Ep 140.
142. TO GILBERT, ABBOT OF
WESTMINSTER.
Anselm assures Abbot Gilbert Crispin of Westminster of their mutual, fraternal love. He informs him about his recent illness in France and intercedes for Dom
Richard.
TO DOM ABBOT GILBERT1, A SERVANT TO HIS LORD, A FRIEND TO
HIS FRIEND, A BELOVED TO HIS BELOVED: BROTHER ANSELM
WISHING THAT HE MAY REJOICE ETERNALLY.
IF EVERYTHING IS WELL, GOOD and prosperous with my lord Abbot Gilbert, my beloved friend, in truth my heart rejoices about it because certainly such is my desire. If a stranger granted strangers the affection and kindnesses you grant us and our affairs we would certainly extend great thanks in writing and in speaking so he would not stop.
But since he who does this is one in whom we need never lose hope, we trust that greater thanks, together with our ever-enduring goodwill, will be enough, particularly since you are not unaware that it constantly dwells in the depths of our heart.
I know that your love desires to know how we are faring, and by God's protection according to our custom and ac cording to the vicissitudes of the times, we are well and
The Letters of St. Anselm prosperous in all things. Except that when I was recently in France, burdened by various business matters, a certain light fever2 suddenly overcame and frightened me more than it harmed me. But when it saw my mind intensely con templating how I could send to our friends for the help of prayers, being terrified it fled the terrified, twice afflicted victim. So I suffered a long time afterwards from difficulty in getting sleep and considerable feebleness in my limbs, together with a loss of appetite.
I greet our most beloved lords and brothers, your sons, with as much tenderness as I can; as often as I think about it I rejoice at their deep affection for me, of which I am well aware. About your servant Richard, who followed you to England at your command; I wish to ask your indulgence—if it does not displease you—since someone whom God has, by his judgement, excused from blame for the crime com mitted, if he himself does not fall away from the faithful service he has begun, there is now nothing which might disturb the goodwill in which you used to hold him. For it is more just and more fitting for the authority of your honor that your firmness drive off the onslaught of any wickedness around him rather than that some alien reproachful stubbornness reverse the praiseworthy inten tion of your kindness. May your love, dear to me, always prosper. c. 1090/91.
NOTES 1. See Ep 84.
2. See Ep 139.