Anselm of Canterbury vs. Florence Nightingale

Today in Lent Madness, we will finally answer that age old question: Theologian or Nurse? Okay, there's a lot more to Anselm of Canterbury and Florence Nightingale than these two labels, so you'll just have to read on.

In yesterday's action, Henry Budd left Cecilia singing the blues as the patron saint of music lost in a close battle 53% to 47%.

Shockingly (or not so shockingly if you're a longtime Lent Madness participant), we encountered our first case of voter fraud as 546 votes for Cecilia were removed after the ever-vigilant SEC noticed a discrepancy. It was a youthful prank and said youth has since confessed and been absolved. Frankly, there are worse ways for teens to get into trouble on the internet than voting too many times for a saint in Lent Madness.

However, this will not be tolerated and perpetrators face being cast into the outer darkness of Lent Madness where there will be weeping and gnashing of brackets. Do everyone a favor: vote once. If you're particularly enthusiastic, get all your friends, neighbors, and even your enemies (the ones we're supposed to love anyway) to cast a vote for your favorite saint. Big Lent is watching...

Anselm of Canterbury

Anselm of Canterbury was a Benedictine monk and theologian of the medieval Church. Born in the eleventh century in a region of France that is now part of Italy, he entered the Abbey of Bec as a novice at the age of 27. Later, he became abbot and was known for his skillful leadership and his kind, loving discipline toward the monks. He was also known for his very public squabbles with the monarchs of England during his time as the Archbishop of Canterbury, defending the Church’s authority to appoint leaders and manage its own wealth. For his resistance to the English kings, he was exiled twice.

Marrying his Neoplatonic worldview with Aristotelian logic, Anselm is considered one of the greatest thinkers of the Middle Ages. He espoused a philosophy of “faith seeking understanding,” by which he meant people’s love of God inspired them to pursue deeper knowledge of God. Anselm is especially known for two highly influential theological arguments. The first argument—Proslogion—explores the existence of God. Secondly, his treatise Cur Deus Homo irrevocably shaped the development of Christian theology by arguing that Jesus’ crucifixion was necessary to atone for humankind’s sin. Anselm argues that through sin, humans offended God, and God is owed restitution for this offense—but we have nothing with which to make such a payment. Personal acts of atonement will not suffice. Only God can pay off such massive, crushing debt. As God is merciful, atonement is made with the self-sacrifice of the sinless, human, and divine figure of Jesus. Anselm’s theory was criticized by his contemporaries and continues to trouble some theologians, even as it has formed the backbone of much of Christian
theology for a millennium.

Anselm died in 1109 on Spy Wednesday (the Wednesday in Holy Week) and was laid to rest at Canterbury Cathedral. The exact location of his relics today is uncertain—they were removed after a cataclysmic fire in the 1170s. Anselm’s feast day is April 21.

Collect for Anselm of Canterbury
Almighty God, you raised up your servant Anselm to teach the Church of his day to understand its faith in your eternal Being, perfect justice, and saving mercy: Provide your Church in every age with devout and learned scholars and teachers, that we may be able to give a reason for the hope that is in us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

-Amber Belldene

Florence Nightingale

Known as “The Lady with the Lamp” for her work as a nurse during the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, in 1820 to a well-connected British family. Despite her upper-class background, Nightingale heard a call from God in 1837 to serve and care for others. Nightingale was expected to marry well, produce children, and carry on the family legacy. Instead, she boldly answered the call she heard from God and became the founder of modern nursing practice.

Born out of her experiences of tending the wounded during the Crimean War, Nightingale began documenting the effects of sanitary conditions on wartime injuries. Nightingale is said to have reduced the mortality rate during the war from 42 percent to 2 percent by addressing hand washing, water contamination, and sterilization of surgical materials. These ideals of sanitary care continue to this day in modern healthcare practice.

Nightingale documented her theories on nursing care in numerous publications—the most famous is her treatise, Notes on Nursing. These theories led her to establish the Nightingale School for Nurses at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London (now part of King’s College, London). This began a process of social reform that opened the door for women, providing them with skills that led to careers outside of domestic service work or factory positions. By providing a skilled nursing force, Nightingale improved healthcare disparities in London and implemented workforce healthcare (now occupational and public health nursing practice); she also advocated for hunger relief in India and worked to abolish prostitution laws that targeted women.

Nightingale was raised in the Church of England and was greatly influenced by Wesleyan ideals. Nightingale believed that her faith was best expressed through the care and love of others. A believer in universal reconciliation, Nightingale is said to have comforted one prostitute who was concerned about going to hell. Nightingale said, “Oh, my girl, are you not now more merciful than the God you think you are going to? Yet the real God is far more merciful than any human creature ever was or can ever imagine.”

Collect for Florence Nightingale
Life-giving God, you alone have power over life and death, over health and sickness: Give power, wisdom, and gentleness to those who follow the lead of your servant Florence Nightingale, that they, bearing with them your presence, may not only heal but bless, and shine as lanterns of hope in the darkest hours of pain and fear; through Jesus Christ, the healer of body and soul, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

-Anna Fitch Courie

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Anselm of Canterbury: Unknown artist, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Florence Nightingale: Unknown Artist, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

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337 comments on “Anselm of Canterbury vs. Florence Nightingale”

  1. My Mom was a nurse and I have great respect for these dedicated caregivers. Thank you, Florence, for your gifts.

  2. one good quote does not a winner make! tho it is a good one.
    I like the 'lead by example' and am going with Flo

  3. Both are huge winners in my book. Now I simply need to research more on Proslogian and Cur Deus Homo.

    International Women's Day. Wearing red. "Go Flo!" (Also easier to chant than "Go Anselm!")

  4. On International Women's Day? Florence, of course. And my Mom and 2 Aunts and 2 cousins were nurses.

  5. I just found out about the hymn being written each day for the saintly pairing. I love today's hymn. Thank you Diana!! Now I have to go back and look at the others...

  6. I voted for Florence, but too bad she didn't also advocate for those dying of hunger in Ireland.

  7. Love Flo-Nighta and all she did and stands for, but I had to go with Anselm, who oughta be the patron saint of youth Christian formation. "Faith seeking understanding." Amen.

  8. “Oh, my girl, are you not now more merciful than the God you think you are going to? Yet the real God is far more merciful than any human creature ever was or can ever imagine.”

  9. A) International Women's Day
    B) my sister DD is a nurse
    C) my Aunt Dena was a nurse
    D) in the 50's and 60's when my dad was diagnosed with MS and confined to a wheelchair, my mom, with no high school degree, supported our family of 8 by working as a nurses' aide (back then it pretty much meant carrying bedpans for 8+ hours a day)
    E) Flo's response to the prostitute was radical in that time and exemplifies pastoral care in any time.
    F) I'm a hand washing freak
    G) I've always struggled with Anselm's theology of atonement.
    ERGO - GO FLO!

  10. On International Women's Day how could I not vote for Florence Nightingale? Besides, I'm pretty sure she was a deacon at heart!

  11. I love "Faith seeking understanding." But Florence Nightingale saved so many lives with her practical wisdom. Lots easier to understand her logic.

  12. My vote is for Florence Nightingale as a tribute to all the wonderful and dedicated nurses I have known and loved in my lifetime: Josephine, Elizabeth and my own dear daughter Elizabeth.
    I applaud Nightingale's belief in universal reconciliation.
    Thanks, Anna Fitch Courie for a beautiful collect for F. N. as well as nurses everywhere.

  13. As a RN for many years I had to vote for Florence. We owe so much to her legacy. I am glad she answered God's call. We all should listen for that.

  14. Ps: Flo was wealthy and could have sat home eating bonbons but instead went out and got her hands dirty. Really dirty

  15. I'm all in favor of Benedictines and theologians, and have no doubt that Anselm himself was a holy man, and one of moderation and mercy. But the Anselmic theory of Substitutionary Atonement has been distorted and abused in such a way as to cause incalculable mischief in Western Christianity. It is behind the entire conservative evangelical world view that "Jesus had to die on the cross to satisfy the wrath of God against our sins. Since ... nobody deserves heaven without Jesus’ sacrifice, that means that God’s moral standards must be defined in such a way that basically decent people who aren’t Christian deserve to be tortured forever. The result is that God appears to be the infinitely picky, uncompromising school principal of the universe." (Morgan Guyton)

    I suspect Anselm himself would be horrified at the effects of his doctrine, but there it is, and if the alternative to him today is Florence Nightingale with her vision that "the real God is far more merciful than any human creature ever was or can ever imagine,” I'm gonna do my small bit to lift that up.

  16. Flo for sure. My daughter is a nurse, her best friend and mine is one, my granddaughter is going into the medical field, on her journey, now is an emt, going for a paramedic, then a pa. It's comforting to have them in my life. I volunteer in a hospital and know and see how caring they all are.

  17. I discovered Florence in my public school library in the second grade. She was my first hero and personal saint. I have her winning the Golden Halo.

  18. Being a nurse I had to go with Florence, but really liked what the writer chose to say about her. We know so much about her nursing but little about the role her faith played in her profession. To me, nursing is a healing ministry. Anselm was a great theologian, but unfortunately he's up against a powerful woman!

  19. Having studied Anselm when a philosophy major, I had to vote for Florence. Sorry.

  20. I voted for Florence in honor of the nurses in my family, which includes my daughter.

  21. My voting this year seems driven by men and women whose actions puts feet to their faith.

  22. From the Penguin edition of The Prayers and Meditations of St Anselm, an excerpt from Prayer for Enemies:
    Tender Lord Jesus,
    let me not be the cause of the death of my brothers,
    let me not be to them
    a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.
    For it is more than enough, Lord,
    that I should be a scandal to myself,
    my sin is sufficient to me.
    Your slave begs you for his fellow slaves,
    lest because of me they offend
    against the kindness of so good and great a lord.
    Let them be reconciled to you and in concord with me,
    according to your will and for your own sake.

    1. Gloria, I had not heard about Cassandra...I will investigate! As a nurse for 30 years, I had to vote for Florence also. Her Notes on Nursing should be a must read for everyone, even if you are not a nursing student.

  23. It has to be Florence - I don't know enough about Anselm to comment on his theory of Substitutionary Atonement as first pronounced, but the distortions of it continue to cause theological problems to this day!

  24. Reconciliation ministry in the 19th century! I just love that about Florence Nightingale.

  25. This pairing was SO not fair!
    I nominated Anselm of Canterbury, because I went to Saint Anselm College, and am a great admirer of him.
    But I studied NURSING!
    Making me choose between them was Not Nice.

  26. In nursing school, we called her "Flo, Baby." Little did we know the serious theology behind her work. Jesus commanded us to heal the sick which has become for me, much more important than the atonement "theory," so it's not even close. Definitely Florence Nightingale.