Gerard of Csanád | |
|---|---|
_-_Statue_of_Saint_Gerard_of_Csan%25C3%25A1d.jpg) Statue of St. Gerard inSan Rocco, Venice. | |
| Monk, bishop and martyr | |
| Born | 977/1000 Venice,Republic of Venice |
| Died | 24 September 1046 Buda,Kingdom of Hungary |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Canonized | 1083 byPope Gregory VII |
| Feast | 24 September |
| Patronage | Hungary,Budapest |
Gerard orGerard Sagredo (Hungarian:Gellért;Italian:Gerardo di Sagredo;Latin:Gerardus; 23 April 977/1000 – 24 September 1046) was the firstbishop of Csanád in theKingdom of Hungary from around 1030 to his death. Most information about his life was preserved in hislegends which contain most conventional elements of medieval biographies of saints. He was born in a Venetian noble family, associated with theSagredo orMorosini families in sources written centuries later. At the age of five, after a serious illness, he was sent to the newly-foundedBenedictineSan Giorgio Monastery. He received an excellent monastic education and also learnt grammar, music, philosophy and law.
He left Venice on a pilgrimage to theHoly Land around 1020, but a storm compelled him to break his journey nearIstria. He decided to visit theKingdom of Hungary.Maurus,bishop of Pécs, and KingStephen I of Hungary convinced him to discontinue his pilgrimage, emphasizing that Gerard's preaching could accelerate the conversion of theHungarians. Gerard was made the tutor of the king's son and heir,Emeric. Before long, Gerard went to theBakony Hills to live as a hermit nearBakonybél. Stephen I made him the first bishop of the newly establishedDiocese of Csanád (encompassing present-dayBanat inSerbia,Romania andHungary) around 1030. Benedictine monks who could speakHungarian helped him to preach among the local inhabitants.
Most information of Gerard was not preserved in impartial sources, but in hishagiographies.[1] TheShort Life of Saint Gerard, which was composed around 1100, is anabridgement of an earlier biography.[2][3] The earlier biography did not survive.[4] TheShort Life primarily presents Gerard as a bishop.[1] The majority of scholars regard theShort Life the most reliable source of Gerard's life.[3]
TheLong Life of Saint Gerard is a compilation of multiple sources, including the biography that the author of the shorter legend had also utilized.[5][6] TheLong Life was completed in the late 13th century or in the 14th century.[5][6] It was regarded as a source of absolute reliability for centuries, but this view radically changed in the 20th century.[3]György Györffy even stated that theLong Life was a forgery.[3] Historian Gábor Klaniczay also emphasizes that the longer legend contains obviously anachronistic elements.[7] On the other hand,Carlile Aylmer Macartney says that theLong Life preserved the original form of Gerard's earliest (now lost) biography.[8]
Gerard's own work, theDeliberatio supra hymnum trium puerorum also contain references to his life.[3]Simon of Kéza's chronicle and theIlluminated Chronicle preserved fragments from the common source of Gerard's twoLives.[9] A 13th-century rhymed version (orchant) of Gerard's legend was also preserved, but it does not contain more information than theShort Life.[3]
Gerard'sLong Life dedicates two chapters to his family and childhood.[10][5] Conventional elements of medieval hagiographies abound in both chapters, suggesting that the author borrowed many motives from other legends, especially from theLife of Saint Adalbert of Prague.[5] Gerard was born in Venice in a noble family.[10] The noble origin of saintly hermits was often emphasized in their legends.[10]
The identification of Gerard's family is uncertain.[10] An expanded version ofPetrus de Natalibus'sCatalogue of Saints, which was published in 1516, identified Gerard as a member of theSagredo family.[11] 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.[11] Historian László Szegfű says that Gerard was actually aMorosini.[12]
Gerard's father, who was also named Gerard, and mother, Catherine, had awaited his birth for three years.[10] They baptised their son George because he was born on the feast ofSaint George (23 April).[10][13] The year of his birth is unknown, but he was born between around 977 and 1000.[10][13][12] He was renamed in the memory of his father who died during a pilgrimage or journey (anachronistically mentioned in Gerard'sLong Life as a crusade).[14]
At the age of five, Gerard was taken seriously ill.[15] His recovery was attributed to the prayers of the Benedictine monks of theSan Giorgio Monastery in Venice.[13] His family soon sent him to the monastery, offering him to spiritual life.[4][15] Gerard took the "religious cloth" and was educated in the monastery.[11] He could read and write and knew the basic elements of arithmetic.[16] HisLong Life emphasizes that Gerard strictly observed the rules of monastic life and wore coarse cloths to "mortify his body".[17] He also studied the "words of the prophets and the speeches of the Orthodox apostles".[17] The use of certain expressions (includingdux verbi, or "leader of theWord") suggests that Gerard readPseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in Greek.[18]
After the foundingabbot of the monastery,John Morosini, died in 1012, Gerard was appointedprior to administer the monastery until the new abbot, Guglielmo, was elected.[17] Guglielmo sent Gerard to "Bologna" to study grammar, music, philosophy and law.[19] Gerard mentioned his stay inGaul, where he readPlato, suggesting that the original version of theLong Life or its source referred to his studies inBurgundy instead of Bologna.[12][20] Gerard returned to the San Giorgio Monastery five years later.[17] HisLong Life writes that Gerard was made abbot although he had been opposed to his election.[17] No information about his activities as abbot was preserved in the sources, implying that he actually never held that office.[13][4][17]
Gerard left for a pilgrimage to theHoly Land.[12][21] According to hisLong Life, he wanted to follow the example ofSaint Jerome.[12][21] Modern historians say that internal strifes (armed conflicts between theOrseolos and their opponents) compelled him to leave the town around 1018 or 1021.[12][21] A storm forced him to seek refuge in a Benedictine monastery on an island nearIstria.[21] In the monastery, he met one Rasina.[21] HistorianGyörgy Györffy associates Rasina withRadla, a close companion ofAdalbert of Prague;[22] László Mezey writes that Rasina was the abbot of the Saint Martin Monastery inLussino.[23] 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".[24] The conversion of theHungarians had started in the 970s, but it accelerated only around 1000.[25] The systematic organization of the Church began during the reign of the firstking of Hungary,Stephen I of Hungary, who was crowned on the first day the new millennium.[26]
Gerard and Rasina visitedZara,Knin andSenj before reachingPécs in Hungary.[27] Gerard metMaurus,bishop of Pécs, and Anastasius,Abbot of Pécsvárad,[23] in Pécs.[27] The two prelates wanted to persuade Gerard to stay in Hungary, stating that "God's will" had brought him to the country.[27] 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.[28]
Maurus and Anastasius convinced Gerard, who wanted to continue his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to meet King Stephen I inSzékesfehérvár.[28] 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.[28] Stephen I even threatened Gerard that he would not allow him to continue his journey to Jerusalem, but also alluding that he would make Gerard bishop.[29] Finally, Gerard accepted Stephen's proposal and decided to stay in Hungary.[30] Before long, on theFeast 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 ofVirgin Mary in Hungary.[30] According to Macartney, the description of Gerard's journey to Hungary and his meetings with the two prelates and the king were incorporated into theLong Life based on a nearly contemporaneous report, but they contain evidently imaginary details, such as the conversations between Gerard and Stephen I.[5]
Gerard was made the tutor of Stephen's son and heir,Emeric.[31] Gerard's role as the crown prince's tutor was only mentioned in theLong Life, implying that this was only an invention by the hagiographer who wanted to create a strong connection between the three most important saints of the early Kingdom of Hungary, but the story is not surely invented.[31][5] Szegfű writes that Gerard may have influenced Stephen'sAdmonitions to Emeric.[12] László Mezey proposes that Gerard was only responsible for the spiritual education of Emeric.[32]
After Emeric's education was completed, Gerard settled in theBakony Hills to live as ahermit nearBakonybél, at a place where the saintlyGunther of Bohemia had lived.[33][34] Szegfű says that Gerard's withdrawal from the royal court was the consequence of the arrival of the family of the DogeOtto Orseolo to Hungary around 1024.[12] During the following years, Gerard built a chapel at the foot of a hill,[35] and wrote theological studies andhomilies (which were later lost).[12] He referred to the commentaries that he had written to theEpistle to the Hebrews and to the Prologue to theGospel of John.[32] Gerard lived as a hermit for seven years, which suggests that he must have spent several years in the Bakony Hills even if the author of his legend only invented the symbolic number seven.[33]
A powerful chieftain,Ajtony, ruled the region near the riversTisza,Danube andMureș in the early 11th century.[36][37] He was baptised according to the "Greek rite" and settled "Greek" (orByzantine) monks in his seat on the Mureș.[37][38] After Ajtony began taxing the salt carried on the Mureș, Stephen I of Hungary sent the royal army against him under the command ofCsanád, who had previously been Ajtony's commander.[37] Csanád defeated and killed Ajtony whose domain was transformed into acounty.[37] Ajtony's seat was renamed for Csanád.[37]
After the conquest of Ajtony's territory, Stephen I summoned Gerard from his hermitage and made him bishop of the newly establishedDiocese of Csanád.[39][40] László Mezey says that the king appointed Gerard to administer the diocese because Gerard's knowledge of the Greek language and the Byzantine theological ideas enabled him to preach in a territory where Greek priests had up to that time proselytized.[32] TheAnnales Posonienses recorded that "Gerard was consecrated bishop" in 1030,[39] but the reliability of this date was not accepted by all historians.[41] The king appointed twelve monks from the Benedictine monasteries in Hungary to accompany Gerard to his see.[42] Seven of the twelve monks who could speakHungarian were tasked with interpreting for Gerard among Ajtony's former subjects.[43] The Greek monks who had arrived during Ajtony's rule were transferred from Csanád to a monastery newly established at Oroszlámos (present-dayBanatsko Aranđelovo in Serbia), and their former monastery was granted to the Benedictines.[44][45]
Gerard and the Benedictine monks shared a house and he forbade them to leave it without his authorization.[46] The monks were required to be present for the morning service and to wear monastic costume.[47] Gerard continued to wear the habits of a hermit (cilice or goat skins) and spent days in solitude in the forests near his see.[48] His legend also writes that he often "took the axe" to cut woods to "mortify his flesh" and to help to "those who had to do this work".[49]
Gerard was a missionary bishop, tasked with the conversion of the pagan inhabitants of his diocese.[47] HisLong Life writes that people came to Gerard, "noblemen and commoners, rich and poor", asking him to baptize them "in the name of the Holy Trinity".[47] They brought horses, cattle, sheep, carpets, rings and necklaces to give them to the bishop.[37] TheLong Life credits Gerard with the building of churches "for every city" in his diocese to serve the growing number of believers.[50] Although theLong Life attributes the establishment of thearchdeaconries of Gerard's diocese to him, most scholars regard this statement as a clear anachronism.[32] Gerard regularly visited Stephen.[51] During a travel from Csanád to the royal court inSzékesfehérvár orEsztergom, he and one of his clerics, Walther, stayed in a manor where a slave woman was singing while making flour on a grinder.[52] Gerard referred to the music as the"symphonia Ungarorum" (or "drum of the Hungarians"), associating the sound of the grinder with a drum roll.[52] Being touched by her cheerfulness while making a hard work, Gerard gave the woman precious gifts.[53]
Stephen I died on 15 August 1038.[54] His nephew, the VenetianPeter Orseolo mounted the throne, but he was dethroned in 1041.[54][55] Peter's successor,Samuel Aba, had many lords executed.[56] He visited Csanád, asking Gerard to put a crown on his head during the mass onResurrection Sunday.[56] He refused Aba, but the bishops who accompanied the king to Csanád, performed the coronation.[56] Gerard went to the pulpit, declaring that the "sword of vengeance will descend" upon Aba's head in three years, because he had gained the kingdom by deceit.[56] The credibility of the report of theLong Life of Aba's visit in Gerard's see is subject to scholarly debates.[56]
The Holy Roman Emperor,Henry III, invaded Hungary and defeated Aba in theBattle of Ménfő in 1044.[56] Peter Orseolo was restored, but his rule was unpopular, because he favored his German and Italian retaineers.[56]
Gerard'smartyrdom took place on 24 September 1046, during theVata pagan uprising. His co-martyrs wereBystrik and Buldus. There are various accounts of his death. According to one, he was stoned, pierced with a lance, and his body thrown from theBlocksberg cliff into the Danube.[57] An alternate account claims that he was placed on a two-wheel cart, hauled to the hilltop and rolled down a hill ofBuda, now namedGellert Hill, then still being alive at the bottom, was beaten to death. Other unverified tales report him as being put into a spiked barrel and rolled down the hill during a mass revolt of pagans.
Canonized in 1083, along with St. Stephen and St. Emeric, Gerard is currently one of thepatron saints of Hungary. His feast day is 24 September.[57]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by New title | Bishop of Csanád 1030–1046 | Succeeded by |
