ON SAINT ANSELM, ABBOT OF NONANTOLA IN ITALY.
YEAR 803.
Historical Synopsis.
Anselm, Abbot of Nonantola in Italy (Saint)
[1] Carlo Sigonio, in Book 3 of his work On the Kingdom of Italy, writes the following concerning Aistulf, King of the Lombards: "In the same year, 750, Anselm, Duke of Friuli, brother of Giseltrude the wife of Aistulf, fired with zeal for religion, built a monastery with a hospice at Fanano, Saint Anselm builds monasteries at Fanano with a hospice, a mountainous place in the diocese of Modena, and there presided as Abbot over many monks." Fanano is a small town of the province of Frignano, subject to the Duke of Modena, situated twenty miles or a little more south of the city of Modena. But Sigonio adds the following for the year 752: "Anselm, Abbot of Fanano, chose another place in the Modenese plains beyond the river Scoltenna, named Nonantola, and, having thoroughly cleared it of rough brambles by the hands of the monks, and Nonantola: he adorned it by founding another monastery there. Then, with the King's permission, having set out for Rome, he received from the Pontiff the sacred cowl and staff, and obtained and transported thither the body of Saint Sylvester." This monastery, afterwards augmented by great gifts and estates from kings, with a multitude of more than a thousand monks, and by the number of its estates and the extent of its rights, was among the most famous of all in Italy. By the same Anselm a hospice was constructed on the Aemilian Way, likewise the Hospice of Saint Ambrose: far from the monastery, for receiving those for whom it was not convenient to turn their journey toward him, and it was dedicated to the name of Saint Ambrose. Thus Sigonio, who says similar things in Book 1 of his work On the Bishops of Bologna for the said year 752, and adds that the bones of Saint Sylvester were transported with the permission of Pope Stephen. Pope Stephen III held his seat from 30 March of the said year 752 until 26 April of the year 757. Nonantola at this time is encircled by very strong walls, distant about seven miles from the city of Modena, beyond the river Scoltenna, now called the Panaro, on the borders of the Bolognese territory, to whose dominion it was subsequently made subject.
[2] In the manuscript Chronicle of the monastery of Nonantola, the Abbots are listed up to the year 1035, which Arnold Wion reports in his Monastic Martyrology for this 3rd day of March were noted by the writer himself with great diligence, and he presents the Catalogue of Abbots, from which I transcribe the first two, of whom he has the following: "In the year of Christ 754, Saint Anselm, the first Abbot, governed for fifty years, died on the fifth day before the Nones of March, in the year 804. made Abbot of Nonantola in the year 754. Peter governed for seventeen years, died on the fourth day before the Kalends of June," etc. Hence Wion adorns him with this eulogy: "At Nonantola, a monastery in the territory of Modena, the birthday of Saint Anselm, the first Abbot of that monastery, whose life, full of virtues, shone brightly." Dorgany and Menard have the same but more briefly. But Wion notes that the monastery was founded by him in honor of the most holy Virgin Mother and Saint Benedict in the year 749, in which, in the course of time, on account of his integrity of character and sanctity of life, he was elected Abbot and was Father of 1,144 monks, not counting the young ones, and died in the same monastery in the year of Christ 804, in the fiftieth year of his governance, on Holy Friday; his sacred body rests in the high altar of the same Church. Thus Wion, from a Life which he asserts is preserved in the sacristy there. died in the year 803. But the year of death seems to be established as 803, when, with the Lunar cycle 6 and the Solar cycle 28, and the Dominical letter A, Easter was celebrated on 16 April, and Ash Wednesday fell on the very Kalends of March, and accordingly Saint Anselm the Abbot would have departed this life on the first Friday of the holy season of Lent. Bucelin, without any reflection, asserts that he died on 3 March in the year 804, on the very day of the sacred Good Friday. Was Easter then celebrated on 5 March? Then in the leap year 804, with Lunar cycle 7, Solar cycle 1, and Dominical letters G F, Easter falls on 31 March, and the 3rd of March falls on the third Sunday of Lent.
[3] Cardinal Baronius, in the Ecclesiastical Annals for the year 752, number 15, writes the following: "Anselm, brother of his wife" (that is, of King Aistulf), "was considered distinguished for religion, inasmuch as in this very year he built the noble monastery of Nonantola in the territory of Modena in honor of the Apostles, and enriched it with the most ample revenues; to which Saints he dedicated Nonantola? thither also he transferred from Rome the venerable relics of Saint Sylvester which he had obtained. Thus Sigebert for this year, and others. Ricobald affirms that he professed the monastic life and was promoted to Abbot and presided over two hundred monks." Behold, the monastery is said to have been built in honor of the Apostles, which Wion asserts was founded in honor of the Virgin Mother and Saint Benedict; the Abbot is also said to have presided over two hundred monks, whom Wion enumerates at one thousand, one hundred and forty-four, not counting the young ones; Bucelin explains these as recruits or novices. What is said to be read in Sigebert concerning the relics of Saint Sylvester, how many monks did he have under him? Miraeus judges to have been added by others; in our ancient manuscript codex, which once belonged to Abraham Ortelius, in the same script as the rest, they are read thus: "Anselm, an illustrious man, whose sister was the wife of King Aistulf, he received the relics of Saint Sylvester from Rome: transferred the body of Pope Saint Sylvester to the monastery of Nonantola which he had founded." Thus it reads there. But Baronius reports that relics, not the body, were received, which will have to be examined in its proper place.
[4] Ferrarius mentions the same in his General Catalogue and in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, where, from the records and chronicle of the monastery of Nonantola, he gives this epitome of his life: "Anselm, Duke of Friuli, kinsman of Aistulf, King of the Lombards, renowned in war, he is praised by Ferrarius, having long and strenuously labored for the Lombard kingdom, disgusted with human affairs and desirous of serving God, built the famous monastery of Nonantola, five miles from the city of Modena, assigning many estates to it; in which, having laid aside his secular garb, he so lived and professed the monastic life that he was made Abbot of the same and Father of very many monks; in which governance he obtained no less praise than when he had been Duke. He was endowed with the greatest benevolence toward the poor; having been made Abbot, he built a hospice in which the poor and pilgrims might be received with hospitality. After having holily presided over the monastery of Nonantola for many years, being briefly ill, having blessed the monks, he expired in their hands and while speaking of divine matters pertaining to the salvation of the soul, around the year of salvation 740." Thus Ferrarius, who in his Annotation creates new difficulties for himself with these words: the question about the time of his life being raised in vain: "There is the greatest disagreement among Benedictine writers about the time when Abbot Anselm lived and died. For the author of the Lignum Vitae writes that he became a monk in the year 999 and departed in the year 1035; but the author of the Monastic History places him around the year 740, which, if Anselm was a kinsman of King Aistulf, is more probable." We accept neither, and first it would have to be explained who the author of the Monastic History is, by metonymy. The author of the Lignum Vitae is Arnold Wion, who himself asserts that he excerpted from the records of the monastery of Nonantola what he reports, and he does not have recourse to the thousandth year of Christ, but establishes that the Abbot was created in the year 754, as his words cited above indicate; and he confirms this in Book 4, chapter 36, under the title "On the Dukes of Friuli," writing thus: "Saint Anselm the Duke, having built the monastery of Nonantola in the diocese of Modena in the year of Christ 752, there, having relinquished the Duchy, presided as Abbot, and was inscribed in the roll of the Saints; his feast is celebrated on 3 March." Sigonio, cited above, agrees.
[5] The same Ferrarius, in his General Catalogue, raises the question about the Duchy of Saint Anselm, whether it was that of Forum Julii (Friuli) or Forum Livii (Forli). Forum Livii is a famous city of Romagna, formerly Flaminia, between Cesena and Faenza, which Biondo Flavio of Forli often mentions in his Italia Illustrata and in his History from the Decline of the Roman Empire. He was Duke, not of Forli, Paolo Bonoli also recently published a History of the city of Forli; when compared with the Ravenna History of Girolamo Rossi and other historians, it does not appear how he could have been Duke of Forli, since that city was under the Pentapolis and was numbered among the seven cities of the Exarchate, over which Eutychius the Exarch presided until the year 751 or the following year; when he then fled to Greece, King Aistulf occupied the Exarchate, but by that time Saint Anselm had already built the monastery of Fanano and from there had turned his mind to founding Nonantola. Furthermore, no Dukes of Forli are noted by authors; but there were Dukes of Friuli under the Lombard Kings, whom Leander Alberti enumerates in his Description of Italy, in Region 18, which is Friuli itself, a broad province, but of Friuli: chiefly under Venetian rule, between the Adriatic Sea and the province of Carniola in Germany, which together with the County of Gorizia is subject to the Archdukes of Austria. Of these Dukes of Friuli, Pemmo, on account of having thrown the Patriarch Callistus of Aquileia into prison, was stripped of his Duchy by King Liutprand, the father of Aistulf, and in his place his son Ratchis was installed, whom they report along with Biondo and others at various places to have been made King of the Lombards in the year 745, having formerly been Duke of Friuli; we believe that Saint Anselm succeeded him, and, following the example of King Ratchis (who, having handed over the kingdom to his brother Aistulf, sought the monastery of Monte Cassino), he took up the monastic life, and Irprandus is then to be said to have succeeded him in the Duchy of Friuli.
[6] Leander Alberti, in Region 14, which is Romagna, has the following about Saint Anselm, not mentioned by others: did he found the monastery of Saint Justina at Padua? "Anselm, after distinguished and very great military commands, having renounced the world, made himself leader of one thousand, one hundred and seven men devoted to religion, with many houses of monks founded, among which were Nonantola and also that splendid one of Saint Justina at Padua, around the year 780 from Christ's birth, and likewise endowed with very great gifts of estates and revenues." Thus Leander. But it is remarkable that these things about the monastery of Saint Justina are not mentioned by the Paduan writers Bernardino Scardeone, Sertorio, Orsato, and others who treat of that monastery. We have inquired by many letters about the Acts of Saint Anselm, which were indicated to us as being preserved by the Abbot there. If we still obtain them, we shall refer them to the Appendix of this volume.