56. To His Cousin Peter
The Letters of St. Anselm
NOTES 1. After visiting his cousin Anselm at Bee, Folcerald had had to return home; where that was is not known. Attempts to obtain his release so he could join Anselm at Bee proved in vain for a long time, but in the end they seem to have been successful (see Ep 209). Folcerald is possibly the hundred-thirty-eighth in the Bee profession-roll; see
Rule I: 252.
2. Cf. Ps 83:8.
3. Abbot Ffenry, as we learn from Ep 110.
4. Ralph accompanied Folcerald home. On his journey back to Bee he was robbed. Ralph, seventieth in the Bee profession-roll, might have come from the Aosta region with Anselm.
5. For Anselm's Prayers and Meditations, see also Epp 28, 325.
6. Ps 120: 4, 7.
56. TO HIS COUSIN PETER
Anselm rejoices greatly at the news of his cousin Peter's intention to come to Bee with a view to becoming a monk there. He encourages him in this plan and looks forward to enjoying his company.
TO HIS DEAREST COUSIN PETER: BROTHER ANSELM, WISHING HE
MAY VOLUNTARILY GIVE UP THOSE GOODS WHICH MUST IN ANY
CASE BE GIVEN UP THAT HE MAY BE ABLE TO GAIN THOSE WHICH
MAY BE RETAINED FOR EVER.1
I CANNOT TELL YOU, DEARLY BELOVED, how greatly my heart leapt with joy when I heard from our beloved brother and cousin, Dom Folcerald, that you have not only reached the age you have, but also that you have been and still are daily progressing in good and valuable studies. But much was added to this joy of mine when he told me you wanted to see me. For mindful of and reflecting on the great friendship which once existed between me and your grand father and your father and mother, and of the immense af fection which I had for you all the time you were a little boy, I still desire for you those things better than which I cannot [conceive]. And whenever I hear good things about you I rejoice until I cannot rejoice any more. Inflamed, therefore, by my desire for you in God, I beseech God that
The Letters of St. Anselm he may allow us to lead the monastic life together in this life as long as we both shall live and be glorified together in the life to come.
Wherefore I exhort, I pray, I entreat you, my dearly be loved: believe that what Truth said is true and love what he promised to those who give up the world for his sake.
Begin to prepare for so great a gain, hasten towards such a reward, that relinquishing the things of this world, you may receive an hundredfold and possess eternal life.2 If God has inspired you to this, my dearest one, I pray that you will not hesitate at the hardship of the journey to come to your friend and cousin who is longing for you. For if we can live together, our mutual joy in each other's company will be so great that what now appears difficult will in the same measure be easy. c. 1070-1078.
NOTES 1. This letter belongs to a literary genre very common in Anselm's col lection, letters of conversion to the monastic life (see Epp 2, and 37, and Jean Leclercq, 'Lettres de vocation a la vie monastique', Studia
Anselmiana 37, Analecta Monastica 3 [Rome, 1955] 169-198).
2. Mt 19:29.