Anselm of Canterbury

Anselm of Canterbury, also known as Anselm of Aosta after his birthplace and Anselm of Bec after his monastery, lived from 1033 or 1034 to 1109 and was a Benedictine abbot, philosopher and theologian who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. As archbishop he defended the church's interests in England during the Investiture Controversy, was exiled twice for his resistance to kings William II and Henry I, and while in exile helped convince Greek Catholic bishops of southern Italy to adopt the Roman Rite at the Council of Bari; in England he asserted the primacy of Canterbury over the Archbishop of York and the bishops of Wales, though Pope Paschal II later reversed the relevant decisions after his death. Beginning at Bec, Anselm composed dialogues and treatises combining a mystical and a rational or philosophical approach, which has sometimes led to his being credited as the founder of Scholasticism; he is most famously regarded as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of God and of the satisfaction theory of atonement. He was canonized as a saint after his death, with a feast day of 21 April, and was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Clement XI in 1720.