Daily Martyrology for April 21

St. Anselm, bishop and doctor. Anselm was born in Aosta in 1033. He went to study in Burgundy, where his mother had relatives. He was drawn to Bec by the fame of Lanfranc, who was teaching there; he joined Bec and became prior and abbot. He visited England several times on abbey business, and when Lanfranc died he was appointed archbishop of Canterbury. Almost immediately he clashed with King William Rufus. He went into exile and stayed with St. Hugh at Cluny, and at Lyons and Rome. He returned to England when Henry I became king. Henry and Anselm came into conflict over the investiture of clerics in their offices; that was finally settled, and for his last three years at Canterbury Anselm enjoyed friendly relations with the king. He was always in his heart a Benedictine monk, and love is the key theme of his letters and the prayers he wrote. Guided by his motto, “faith seeking understanding", he also wrote a number of brilliant and extremely influential theological monographs, including Why God Became Man and the Proslogion.

In 185, at Rome, St. Apollonius, martyr. He was a high-ranking Roman who was arrested for being a Christian. He addressed an eloquent apology for Christianity to the senate and was executed.

Around 600, St. Beuno, abbot. He founded a number of monasteries in north Wales and was an advisor, and perhaps uncle, to St. Winefride.

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Our daily martyrology was written by Fr. Hugh Feiss, OSB. Copyright © 2008 by the Monastery of the Ascension, Jerome, ID 83338.