St. Anselm of Canterbury

St. Anselm of Canterbury was born to a noble family in Piedmont, Italy, in 1033. He became a Benedictine monk in Normandy, France. He was a counselor to Pope Gregory VII, Pope Urban II and William the Conqueror. St. Anselm fought against the English king’s encroachment on the independence of the church. He died in Canterbury, England, in 1109. St. Anselm is considered one of the great theologians of the Middle Ages and was proclaimed a doctor of the church by Pope Clement XI in 1720.