Biography
Anselm of Lucca
About Anselm of Lucca
Anselm of Lucca is also called Anselm the Younger to distinguish him from his uncle, Anselm of Baggio, who became Pope Alexander II. The sources disagree about the younger Anselm’s birthplace: the Diocese of Lucca says Baggio near Milan, while the Catholic Encyclopedia places his birth at Mantua around 1036. The record therefore retains only an approximate birth year and does not choose a birthplace. The diocesan account says Alexander appointed him bishop of Lucca in 1073 and that Gregory VII confirmed and consecrated him the following year.Anselm became a supporter of Gregory VII and the church reform movement. The Diocese of Lucca describes his pastoral work in the diocese, especially reform of clerical and lay conduct, and his service as spiritual adviser to Countess Matilda of Canossa. A modern scholarly catalog describes Bishop Rangerius’s metrical life of Anselm, written in the 1090s, as a major account of the bishop and his role in the Gregorian reform. The poem is close in time to Anselm but is also a hagiographic and political work; it should not be treated as a neutral transcript of events.Opposition within Lucca and pressure from imperial forces eventually drove Anselm into exile at Mantua. The Diocese of Lucca says he continued his work there as apostolic vicar in Lombardy and died on 18 March 1086. The same diocesan source says he was canonized by Pope Victor III the next year and that his body is venerated in Mantua’s cathedral. Vatican News lists his Roman Catholic memorial on 18 March, while the Lucca diocese keeps a local optional memorial on 6 May. These calendars preserve distinct observances rather than a single universal date.
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