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. The Long Life was completed in the late 13th century or in the 14th century. It was regarded as a source of absolute reliability for centuries, but this view radically changed in the 20th century. György Györffy even stated that the Long Life was a forgery. Historian Gábor Klaniczay also emphasizes that the longer legend contains obviously anachronistic elements. On the other hand, Carlile Aylmer Macartney says that the Long Life preserved the original form of Gerard's earliest (now lost) biography.
Gerard's own work, the Deliberatio supra hymnum trium puerorum also contains references to his life. Simon of Kéza's chronicle and the Illuminated Chronicle preserved fragments from the common source of Gerard's two Lives. A 13th-century rhymed version (or chant) of Gerard's legend was also preserved, but it does not contain more information than the Short Life.
Gerard's Long Life dedicates two chapters to his family and childhood. Conventional elements of medieval hagiographies abound in both chapters, suggesting that the author borrowed many motives from other legends, especially from the Life of Saint Adalbert of Prague. Gerard was born in Venice in a noble family. The noble origin of saintly hermits was often emphasized in their legends.
The identification of Gerard's family is uncertain. An expanded version of Petrus de Natalibus's Catalogue of Saints, which was published in 1516, identified Gerard as a member of the Sagredo family. Although the family was granted Venetian nobility only in the 14th century, some scholars (including Fabio Banfi) accept the Sagredos' claim to their kinship with Saint Gerard. Historian László Szegfű says that Gerard was actually a Morosini.
Gerard's father, who was also named Gerard, and mother, Catherine, had awaited his birth for three years. They baptised their son George because he was born on the feast of Saint George (23 April). The year of his birth is unknown, but he was born between 977 and 1000. He was renamed in the memory of his father, who died during a pilgrimage or journey (anachronistically mentioned in Gerard's Long Life as a crusade).
At the age of five, Gerard was taken seriously ill. His recovery was attributed to the prayers of the Benedictine monks of the San Giorgio Monastery in Venice. His family soon sent him to the monastery, offering him to spiritual life. Gerard took the "religious cloth" and was educated in the monastery. He could read and write and knew the basic elements of arithmetic. His Long Life emphasizes that Gerard strictly observed the rules of monastic life and wore coarse cloths to "mortify his body". He also studied the "words of the prophets and the speeches of the Orthodox apostles". The use of certain expressions (including dux verbi, or "leader of the Word") suggests that Gerard read Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in Greek.
After the founding abbot of the monastery, John Morosini, died in 1012, Gerard was appointed prior to administer the monastery until the new abbot, Guglielmo, was elected. Guglielmo sent Gerard to "Bologna" to study grammar, music, philosophy and law. Gerard mentioned his stay in Gaul, where he read Plato, suggesting that the original version of the Long Life or its source referred to his studies in Burgundy instead of Bologna. Gerard returned to the San Giorgio Monastery five years later. His Long Life writes that Gerard was made abbot although he had been opposed to his election. No information about his activities as abbot was preserved in the sources, implying that he actually never held that office.
Gerard left for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. According to his Long Life, he wanted to follow the example of Saint Jerome. Modern historians say that internal strifes (armed conflicts between the Orseolos and their opponents) compelled him to leave the town around 1018 or 1021. A storm forced him to seek refuge in a Benedictine monastery on an island near Istria. In the monastery, he met one Rasina. Historian György Györffy associates Rasina with Radla, a close companion of Adalbert of Prague; László Mezey writes that Rasina was the abbot of the Saint Martin Monastery in Lussino. Rasina persuaded Gerard to accompany him to Hungary, saying that "nowhere else in the world could one find today a more suitable place to win souls for the Lord". The conversion of the Hungarians had started in the 970s, but it accelerated only around 1000. The systematic organization of the Church began during the reign of the first king of Hungary, Stephen I of Hungary, who was crowned on the first day of the new millennium.
Gerard and Rasina visited Zara, Knin and Senj before reaching Pécs in Hungary. Gerard met Maurus, bishop of Pécs, and Anastasius, Abbot of Pécsvárad, in Pécs. The two prelates wanted to persuade Gerard to stay in Hungary, stating that "God's will" had brought him to the country. After Gerard gave sermons in their presence, Maurus and Anastasius stated that he was a "master of the word", declaring that such a cleric had never visited Hungary.
Maurus and Anastasius convinced Gerard, who wanted to continue his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to meet King Stephen I in Székesfehérvár. During their meeting, the king emphasized that his realm was the most suitable place for Gerard "to serve God", promising that he would authorize Gerard to preach anywhere in Hungary. Stephen I even threatened Gerard that he would not allow him to continue his journey to Jerusalem, and also alluded that he would make Gerard a bishop. Finally, Gerard accepted Stephen's proposal and decided to stay in Hungary. Before long, on the Feast of the Assumption (15 August), Gerard gave a sermon in honor of the "Woman clothed with the Sun", which was the first recorded sign of the cult of Virgin Mary in Hungary. According to Macartney, the description of Gerard's journey to Hungary and his meetings with the two prelates and the king were incorporated into the Long Life based on a nearly contemporaneous report, but they contain evidently imaginary details, such as the conversations between Gerard and Stephen I.