page_title: Gerard of Csanád
section_title: Royal tutor and hermit
hierarchical_section_title: Gerard of Csanád / Ecclesiastic career / Royal tutor and hermit
context_page_description: Gerard or Gerard Sagredo 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 contain most conventional elements of medieval biographies of saints. He was born in a Venetian noble family, associated with the Sagredos or Morosinis in sources written centuries later. After a serious illness, he was sent to the Benedictine San Giorgio Monastery at the age of five. He received excellent monastic education and also learnt grammar, music, philosophy and law.
  He left Venice for 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 Stephen I of Hungary convinced him not to continue his pilgrimage, emphasizing that Gerard's preachings 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 bishop of the newly established Diocese of Csanád around 1030.
context_section_description: Gerard and Rasina visited Zadar, 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, but also alluding that he would make Gerard 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.
  Gerard was made the tutor of Stephen's son and heir, Emeric. Gerard's role as the crown prince's tutor was only mentioned in the Long 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. Szegfű writes that Gerard may have influenced Stephen's Admonitions to Emeric. László Mezey proposes that Gerard was only responsible for the spiritual education of Emeric.
  After Emeric's education was completed, Gerard settled in the Bakony Hills to live as a hermit near Bakonybél, at a place where the saintly Gunther of Bohemia had lived. Szegfű says that Gerard's withdrawal from the royal court was the consequence of the arrival of the family of the Doge Otto Orseolo to Hungary around 1024. During the following years, Gerard built a chapel at the foot of a hill, and wrote theological studies and homilies (which were later lost). He referred to the commentaries that he had written to the Epistle to the Hebrews and to the Prologue to the Gospel of John. 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.
caption: Portrayal of Stephen I of Hungary who convinced Gerard to stay in Hungary instead of travelling to the Holy Land
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