23. TO LANFRANC,: Archbishop Of Canterbury.
The Letters of St. Anselm NOTES 1. These uncles, brothers of Anselm's mother, seem to have been can ons of the cathedral chapter of Aosta; see Rule I: 30.
2. The bearer of the letter seems to have been a member of the Crispin family, see Ep 84.
3. Eve, a widow, lived at Bee, see Epp 98, 147.
23. TO LANFRANC,
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.
Anselm expresses his love for Archbishop Lanfranc, informs him that he has found a scribe for the Moralia in Job at Caen, that he himself is copying the requested works of Saint Ambrose and Saint Jerome and specifies the reason for Girard's delay in becoming a monk at Bee.
TO HIS LORD AND FATHER, ARCHBISHOP LANFRANC, REVERENTLY
LOVED AND LOVINGLY REVERED BY ALL: HIS BROTHER ANSELM
SENDS HIS WHOLE SELF.
SINCE ONE MUST BE EITHER SILENT or brief when speaking to a wise man, and as I do not wish to be silent but want to say what is on my mind to someone to whom
I can speak freely, I impart briefly the way in which our soul abides in intimate fidelity to your paternal highness.
Just as I daily desire that the warmth of your love may con tinually grow in my heart, so too, no absence of one of us from the other could ever cause it to diminish in any way.
As regards the Moralia in Job' which you requested from me, Dom Abbot William2 of Caen and Dom Hernost3, your faithful friends, have in fact found a scribe; and since he already has our book I think he has started on yours. To accomplish what you commanded I have worked and am working to obtain the books of saints Ambrose and Jerome, but I have not been able to get them yet. As quickly as I can I shall complete what I know you want from them.
Your holiness may know that your Girard4 of Flanders, who was bought back from the world for God by the
The Letters of St. Anselm
generosity of your kindness and at our instigation—as for me, if I were not already yours, I would profess to be a ser vant bought by you—could not be released from his credi tors on the day you fixed without grave loss. But he came on the first Sunday of Lent, bountifully praising your mer cy towards him and [telling] how, not so much our peti tion but a slight sign of will from your high office helped his cause; and he intimated that he always wants you to go on helping him. He said that, with regard to what he possesses, he wanted to be able to give back what he owed and have something left to bring with him; but because of certain difficulties he was not able to fulfill his promise as he should. Therefore he left again, promising that, with God's help, he would come back to Bee at Eastertide and would stay; even though that was not what he wanted it was the best he could do. If, therefore, he has sinned be cause he did not carry out to the full the promise he made to you, in that it does not appear that he acted with malice,
I ask confidently of your kindness, as I am in the habit of doing, that your son, in the father's stead, may be allowed to absolve him from his guilt when he begins to live with us. In this matter I presume your certain consent unless I read something to the contrary.
Before 1078.
NOTES 1. The Moralia in Job, an extensive commentary on the Book of Job by Pope Gregory I (590-604), enjoyed great popularity among monks.
2. See Ep 18.
3. See Ep 1.
4. See Epp 14, 15.