• St. Anselm (1109). Bishop, Doctor of the Church. (Current, Traditional)
• St. Conrad (1894). Religious. (Historical)

ANSELM was a native of Piedmont. When a boy of fifteen, being forbidden to enter religion, he for a while lost his fervor, left his home, and went to various schools in France. At length his vocation revived, and he became a monk at Bec in Normandy. The fame of his sanctity in this cloister led William Rufus, when dangerously ill, to take him for his confessor, and to name him to the vacant see of Canterbury. Now began the strife of Anselm’s life. With new health the king relapsed into his former sins, plundered the Church lands, scorned the archbishop’s rebukes, and forbade him to go to Rome for the pallium. Anselm went, and returned only to enter into a more bitter strife with William’s successor, Henry I. This sovereign claimed the right of investing prelates with the ring and crozier, symbols of the spiritual jurisdiction which belongs to the Church alone. The worldly prelates did not scruple to call St. Anselm a traitor for his defense of the Pope’s supremacy; on which the Saint rose, and with calm dignity exclaimed, “If any man pretends that I violate my faith to my king because I will not reject the authority of the Holy See of Rome, let him stand forth and in the name of God I will answer him as I ought.” No one took up the challenge; and to the disappointment of the king, the barons sided with the Saint, for they respected his courage, and saw that his cause was their own. Sooner than yield, the archbishop went again into exile, till at last the king was obliged to submit to the feeble but inflexible old man. In the midst of his harassing cares, St. Anselm found time for writings which have made him celebrated as the father of scholastic theology; while in metaphysics and in science he had few equals. He is yet more famous for his devotion to our Blessed Lady, whose Feast of the Immaculate Conception he was the first to establish in the West. He died A.D. I109.

REFLECTION: Whoever, like St. Anselm, contends for the Church’s rights, is fighting on the side of God against the tyranny of Satan.

WORD OF THE DAY

SHEOL. The Hebrew word for hell, corresponding to the Greek Hades. At first a vague, gloomy place in which departed souls lived, gradually it was looked upon as a place of terrible punishment for unworthy souls. The lesson is vividly taught in the New Testament that Sheol is the destination of souls dying in sin. Luke speaks of the “torment in Hades” (Luke 16:23). The letter to the Hebrews warns of “the dreadful prospect of judgment and of the raging fire that is to burn rebels” (Hebrews 10:27). Revelation describes “the fire and brimstone in which they will be tortured in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb, and the smoke of their torture will go up forever and ever” (Revelation 14:10-11).

Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon SJ (Get the real one at Eternal Life — don’t accept an abridged or edited version of this masterpiece!)

EASTER MEDITATIONS

Enjoy daily meditations this Easter from Fr. Richard Clarke, SJ. Short and powerful, written in 1880 for busy lay people to reap rewards through Eastertide: 18. — The First Appearance of Jesus to the Apostles.