證道篇與文集 第 1 章

Being hindered from coming in person, he beseeches the Pope by letter to release him from the episcopate, since for the reasons he sets forth he cannot end his life in it without harm to his soul. 1. To his lord and father, to be revered with love and to be loved with reverence, to the supreme pontiff Urban: brother Anselm, servant of the church of Canterbury, sends due submission and devotion in prayer. 2. We know, revered lord and beloved father, that our Lord Jesus Christ has exalted your holiness in his church to counsel and assist those who, panting for the rest of the heavenly fatherland, are wearied by diverse tribulations in the exile of this present world.

With this hope, therefore, and consideration, I, your humble servant, in the anguish of my heart resolved to flee to the bosom of your fatherly and apostolic compassion by presenting myself in person; but this I am in no way able to do as I desire. Why I cannot, you will learn through the bearer of this letter. Since, then, I cannot of myself approach your presence according to my desire, I make known my anguish to your clemency by letter, as I am able, so that by its consolation these same anguishes may be soothed, and my soul may rejoice to obtain the longed-for tranquillity through the affection of your compassion. For so great is the tribulation of my heart that I am sufficient to express it neither by words nor by letters;

but I pray to God, who knows hidden things, that he may cause you to understand it, and «through the bowels of his mercy» may move your bowels to compassion for it according to my desire and need. Yet concerning this my need and my desire I disclose some things, through which I do not doubt that your prudence is able to understand what is expedient for me. 3.

It is known to many, my devout father, with what violence and how unwilling and how resisting I was seized and held for the episcopate in England, and how I urged my reluctance against such an office on account of my nature, age, weakness, and ignorance, which utterly shun and inconsolably abhor all the affairs of the world, so that I can in no way endure them with the salvation of my soul. Remaining now for four years in this archbishopric I have borne no fruit, but have lived to no purpose amid immense and detestable tribulations of my soul, so that day by day I desired more to die outside England than to live there.

For if I were to end the present life there, just as I was, I saw rather the damnation of my soul than its salvation. For I saw many evils in that land, which I neither ought to tolerate nor could correct by episcopal authority. The king himself also did certain things which did not seem fit to be done concerning the churches, which after the death of the prelates he handled otherwise than was proper. He burdened me also and the church of Canterbury in many ways. For the lands of that very church, which after the death of Archbishop Lanfranc, while he held the archbishopric in his own hand, he had given to his soldiers, he did not restore to me as that same archbishop had held them, but moreover gave others away according to his own pleasure against my will.

He exacted from me heavy services, unwonted even to my predecessors, beyond what I could bear or ought to endure. And I saw the law of God and the canonical and apostolic authorities overwhelmed by arbitrary customs. About all these things, when I spoke, I accomplished nothing, and not so much plain rectitude as arbitrary customs were set against me. 4. Knowing therefore that, if I tolerated these things thus to the end, I would confirm so depraved a custom for my successors to the damnation of my soul, and could not plead concerning them -- for no one dared give me either counsel or help in these matters --:

I sought leave from the king to go to your fatherly presence, that I might show him both the anguish of my heart, and thereafter, by his counsel and help, do what was more wholesome for my soul. About this matter, being angered, he demanded that I make satisfaction to him for the request of this leave as though for a grave offense, and that I assure him that I would thereafter in no way seek the apostolic see for any necessity, nor even speak of it thenceforth; or, if I were ever going to do this, that I should do it at present. And so thus I crossed the sea with the intention of coming to you. Which, as I have said, I cannot do. 5.

But since it is impossible for me to be reconciled to a life of this kind, or for my soul to be saved in such an episcopate, both because of the conditions of the matters I have spoken of, and because of my manifold weaknesses of sense, of character, of nature, and of age: this is the sum of my supplication, on account of which I wished to come to you, that, as you desire God for my soul and my soul for God, by the fatherly and apostolic compassion which dwells in your heart, you would release my soul from the bond of so great a servitude, and restore to it the liberty of serving God in tranquillity, «lest it be swallowed up by overmuch sorrow», as it has already too greatly suffered, and be dragged from temporal grief to eternal;

and thereafter that you may take counsel for the church of the English according to the prudence and authority of your apostleship. May the Almighty Lord long preserve your holiness for us, unharmed in the prosperity of his grace, and crush Satan and the gates of hell beneath your feet. Amen.