ANSELM II OF LUCCA, ST.

Bishop; b. Mantua, Italy, 1036; d. there 1086. Anselm came from a noble Milanese family and was a nephew and successor of Anselm I, who became Pope Alexander II. Anselm, who was consecrated bishop in 1073, was a firm supporter of Pope St. Gregory VII and of the movement to reform the Church. His efforts to reform the Diocese of Lucca, especially to force the cathedral canons to live the common life, caused opposition. He also opposed the Emperor Henry IV and the antipope Clement III. Having been forced to leave his see, he spent his last years as spiritual director to Countess Matilda of Tuscany, and vicar apostolic in Lombardy.

His main works were the Liber contra Wibertum and the Collectio canonum. The collection, compiled in about 1083 for Gregory VII, exists in two forms, called A and B. Form A is regarded as the original. The number of capitula varies from manuscript to manuscript but is between 1,150 and 1,281. These are divided into 13 books of unequal length. The contents of the books include the Roman primacy (one), appeals and clerical trials (two, three), ecclesiastical privileges (four), status of churches (five), episcopal elections (six), the priesthood (seven), lapsed clergy (eight), Sacraments (nine), Marriage (ten), Penance (11), excommunication (12), and lawful coercive power (13). The main formal sources were the Hadriana, Hispana, Pseudo-Isidore, Anselmo dicata, Burchard, and especially the seventy-four titles. A number of other miscellaneous sources provided texts, e.g., of Roman law. The majority of the capitula were from papal decretals (about 300 false; about 420 genuine). A rubric title introduces each capitulum. These enable us to determine the author's own views. Pre-Gratian collections had no glosses as such, and the texts were open to interpretation. Thus the rubrics play a part in bringing about the concordance of texts that triumphed with Gratian.

As an instrument of papal reform Anselm's collection ranks with the Seventy-four Titles in importance. It was a carefully constructed collection that enjoyed wide popularity, being used in later collections as well as in polemical writings during the investiture struggle. The main problems of the reform—simony, clerical celibacy, monastic freedom, lay investiture, the superiority of the spiritual power—inspired Anselm. Thus the collection is an important source for the history of the Gregorian reform, and as well for dogmatic and moral theology. Some 14 manuscripts of the collection are extant. Collections that used Anselm include the Liber Tarraconensis, Caesaraugustana, Alger of Liége, Ashburnham, and Gratian. The collection was also a main source through which the False Decretals were popularized in Italy and beyond.

Feast: March 18.

Bibliography: anselm of lucca, Liber contra Wibertum, ed. e. bernheim, Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Libelli de lite 1:517–528, Patrologia Latina 149:435–634, Anselmi episcopi Lucensis collectio canonum una cum collectione minore, ed. f. thaner 2 v. (Innsbruck 1906 and 1915). p. fournier and g. lebras, Histoire des collections canoniques en occident depuis les fausses décrétals jusqu'au Décret de Gratien (Paris 1931–32) 2:25–37. r. montanari, La "Collectio canonum" de S. Anselmo di Lucca e la riforma Gregoriana (Mantua 1941). a. m. stickler, Historia iuris canonici latini: vol. 1, Historia fontinum (Turin 1950) 170–172, 187. g. b. borino, "II monacato e l'investitura di Anselmo vescovo di Lucca," Studi Gregoriani 5 (1956) 361–374. k. g. cushing, Papacy and Law in the Gregorian Revolution: The Canonistic Work of Anselm of Lucca (Oxford 1998). Sant'Anselmo, Mantova e la lotta per le investiture, ed. p. golinelli (Bologna 1987). Sant'Anselmo vescovo di Lucca nel quadro delle trasformazioni sociali e della riforma ecclesiastica, ed. c. violante (Rome 1992). f. kempf, Lexicon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 1:596. Acta Sanctorum March 2:647–663. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, ed. h. thurston and d. attwater (New York 1956) 1:628–629.

[j. t. gilchrist]