36. TO ALBERT, THE: Physician.
The Letters of St. Anselm
resolutely, persevering more joyfully, courageously com forted.
Do not abandon your undertaking by any lassitude, there fore, but rather, for the love of blessed reward and in hope of divine assistance, embark on those things which are good for you and which you have not yet attempted so that, with Christ's guidance, you may attain the blessed company of the saints.
I commend Dom Maurice to you—for you know I love him and he loves me—so he may rejoice in having found a brother among strangers and you may show that you have remained in our friendship despite long absence. c. 1073.
36. TO ALBERT, THE
PHYSICIAN.
Because of their mutual friendship Anselm encourages Albert, the physician, who followed Lanfranc, via Caen, to Canterbury, to become a monk at Bee. He begs him to give medical treatment to Maurice who is about to come to Canter bury at Archbishop Lanfranc's request.
TO HIS LORD, BROTHER, AND DEAREST FRIEND ALBERT: BROTHER
ANSELM, WISHING THAT HE MAY SO PASS THROUGH TEMPORAL
GOODS WHILE DESPISING THEM THAT HE MAY ABIDE IN THE MIDST
OF ETERNAL GOODS WHILE ENJOYING THEM.
THE DEEP AFFECTION OF MY LOVE FOR YOU-for
which your honor asked me by letter with such sublime humility—was not prompted by the reverent supplication of your recent letter but rather your character long ago made an impression on me by commending itself favorably to my mind. From the time I was able to get to know you well, in fact, my heart has never ceased longing for and loving you. And you ought not to doubt this if you recall the
The Letters of St. Anselm journey we made together from Bee to Rouen. For then we harmonized so amicably in conversation that our mutual love, which had already been conceived in the mind and through which we had come to know one another in the beginning, displayed itself more fully, and you promised me then what I still long for, pray for with longing, and await in prayer.
This wish is that if ever heavenly grace so enkindles in your mind the desire for heavenly bliss that it totally burns away your craving for earthly vanities, you will not, dearest friend, commit yourself to monastic life anywhere but at the monastery of Caen or at Bee. Yet since the reason that drew you particularly to Caen and that previously caused you to waver has now disappeared1, it seems more certain that Bee alone awaits you. This is why, although I long for your conversion above all for your own sake, that you may more certainly await and more copiously receive heavenly rather than earthly riches, eternal instead of perishable wealth, truth instead of falsity, blissful incorruptibility in place of miserable mortality, I hope even more ardently that through it, if it does come about, your way of life will be joined to mine.
At the command of our reverend lord and father the arch bishop, we are sending to England Dom Maurice, our lord by his merits, our brother in community, our most beloved son through the care lavished on him2. To the degree that our friendship can inspire you, his illness demands of you and your healing skill, with God's help, may accomplish, we commit him into your hands to be cured for the love of God. May he therefore be granted temporal health through your efforts, and may you be repaid with eternal salvation by divine mercy, and brother Anselm, whom you already possess as a friend, be bought by you as your servant. c. 1073.