Saint Gerard of Csanád

Gerard or Gerard Sagredo (Hungarian: Gellért; Italian: Gerardo di Sagredo; Latin: Gerardus; 23 April 977/1000 – 24 September 1046) was the first bishop of Csanád in the Kingdom of Hungary from around 1030 to his death. Most information about his life was preserved in his legends, which contains most of the conventional elements of medieval saints' biographies. He was born in a Venetian noble family, associated with the Sagredo or Morosini families in sources written centuries later. At the age of five, after a serious illness, he was sent to the newly-founded Benedictine San Giorgio Monastery. He received an excellent monastic education and also learnt grammar, music, philosophy, and law. He left Venice on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land around 1020, but a storm compelled him to break his journey near Istria. He decided to visit the Kingdom of Hungary. Maurus, bishop of Pécs, and King Stephen I of Hungary convinced him to discontinue his pilgrimage, emphasizing that Gerard's preaching could accelerate the conversion of the Hungarians. Gerard was made the tutor of the king's son and heir, Emeric. Before long, Gerard went to the Bakony Hills to live as a hermit near Bakonybél. Stephen I made him the first bishop of the newly established Diocese of Csanád (encompassing present-day Banat in Serbia, Romania and Hungary) around 1030. Benedictine monks who spoke Hungarian helped him preach to the local inhabitants. Most information about Gerard was not preserved in impartial sources, but in his hagiographies. The Short Life of Saint Gerard, which was composed around 1100, is an abridgement of an earlier biography. The earlier biography did not survive. The Short Life primarily presents Gerard as a bishop. The majority of scholars regard the Short Life the most reliable source of Gerard's life. The Long Life of Saint Gerard is a compilation of multiple sources, including the biography that the author of the shorter legend had also utilized.