15. To Girard.
The Letters of St. Anselm
15. TO GIRARD.
Anselm informs Girard that Archbishop Lanfranc is prepared to help him in his financial problems if he becomes a monk of Bee; he advises him to go to see the Archbishop and come to Bee once clear of his debts.
TO GIRARD, THE MINT-MASTER OF ARRAS, BROTHER OF AIVERTUS:
BROTHER ANSELM, GREETING.'
LANFRANC, THE VENERABLE ARCHBISHOP of the En glish, who was prior in our monastery and abbot of Caen, whom you yourself, I think, have seen, has recently heard about your desire and your difficulty. Therefore his holi ness, moved by compassion for you, has sent word to us that he will give you a hundred shillings of English money for God's sake as a help towards clearing your debts if it is certain that you will enter our community. Furthermore he declared that if it became necessary he would add a small amount to this. For this reason, we give you this advice: that you go to him as quickly as you can; and if he requires any security of you, whether your pledge or an oath for security or anything else he may demand, explain to him how much you owe and how confident you are of having your own, and with him settle on a fixed date which you can easily keep by which you can come to our monastery with the intention of becoming a monk here, if only he will be sufficiently merciful to you so you can repay the money you owe.
Do not hesitate to do what we advise, for this reverend archbishop is very merciful, particularly when it comes to the salvation of souls, and he is greatly dedicated to alms giving and amply provided with gold and silver. Even if you owe so much that he is unwilling to give you as much as you need to pay off your debt: we are certain that, first of all for God's sake and then for the sake of our lovetrusting in his great compassion we give you this advice— he will give you so much that you will not regret either the effort or the expense of going to him. Take this very letter