QUOD VERE SIT DEUS.
The Prayer to Understand What We Believe
Anselm prays for understanding that God is exactly what faith confesses, then distinguishes between having something in the mind and understanding that it truly exists.
So then, Lord, you who grant faith's understanding, grant me that I may understand — as much as you know is good for me — that you are just as we believe, and that you are exactly what we believe. And indeed, we believe you are something greater than which nothing can be conceived. So then, is there no such nature — because 'the fool said in his heart, there is no God'?1 But surely that same fool, when he hears what I am saying — 'something greater than which nothing can be conceived' — understands what he hears; and what he understands is present in his mind, even if he doesn't understand it to exist. For it is one thing for a thing to exist in the mind, and another to understand that a thing exists.
The Painter's Premeditation
Anselm uses the analogy of a painter who first holds a work in mind before making it, then understands it as real once completed.
When a painter thinks through beforehand what he's going to do, he has it in his mind, but he doesn't yet understand it as what he hasn't yet made. But once he's painted it, he both has it in his mind and understands it as what he has now made.
The Greatest Conceivable Being Exists in the Understanding
Even the fool must grant that the greatest conceivable being exists in the understanding, yet it cannot exist there alone, for existence in reality would be greater.
So even the fool grasps that there is something than which nothing greater can be thought, or at least that it exists in the understanding, because when he hears this, he understands it, and whatever is understood exists in the understanding. And certainly that than which nothing greater can be thought cannot exist in the understanding alone. For if it exists even in the understanding alone, it can be thought to exist in reality as well, which is greater.
The Inescapable Conclusion
If the greatest conceivable being existed only in the mind, it would not be the greatest conceivable being, which is impossible; therefore it exists both in the understanding and in reality.
So if that than which nothing greater can be thought exists in the understanding alone, then that very thing than which nothing greater can be thought is something than which a greater can be thought. But surely this cannot be so. Therefore, beyond all doubt, there exists something than which nothing greater can be thought — both in the understanding and in reality.
Read the original Latin
Ergo, domine, qui das fidei intellectum, da mihi, ut quantum scis expedire intelligam, quia es sicut credimus, et hoc es quod credimus. Et quidem credimus te esse aliquid quo nihil maius cogitari possit. An ergo non est aliqua talis natura, quia "dixit insipiens in corde quo: non est deus"? Sed certe ipse idem insipiens, cum audit hoc ipsum quod dico: 'aliquid quo maius nihil cogitari potest', intelligit quod audit; et quod intelligit in intellectu eius est, etiam si non intelligat illud esse. Aliud enim est rem esse in intellectu, aliud intelligere rem esse.
Nam cum pictor praecogitat quae facturus est, habet quidem in intellectu sed nondum intelligit esse quod nondum fecit. Cum vero iam pinxit, et habet in intellectu et intelligit esse quod iam fecit.
Convincitur ergo etiam insipiens esse vel in intellectu aliquid quo nihil maius cogitari potest, quia hoc cum audit intelligit, et quidquid intelligitur in intellectu est. Et certe id quo maius cogitari nequit, non potest esse in solo intellectu. Si enim vel in solo intellectu est, potest cogitari esse et in re, quod maius est.
Si ergo id quo maius cogitari non potest, est in solo intellectu: id ipsum quo maius cogitari non potest, est quo maius cogitari potest. Sed certe hoc esse non potest. Existit ergo procul dubio aliquid quo maius cogitari non valet, et in intellectu et in re.
Notes
- 1 ↩Quoted span is a candidate allusion to Psalm 14:1 (Vulgate) / Psalm 53:1; final source resolution belongs to a later stage.
Proslogion (Address / Discourse on the Existence of God) companion
One chapter of historic wisdom, every day
Chosen Portion delivers works like the Proslogion as short daily readings with a prayer — free on iOS.
Anselm designed the Proslogion to be read slowly as prayer, and the Chosen Portion app serves it exactly that way — one short portion per day.
- Finish the entire Proslogion in 14 days at about 10 minutes a day
- Modern-English rendering of all 27 chapters, no Latin required
- Each reading paired with Anselm's own prayers so study ends in worship