A Venetian in Buda
Walking into the refectory of the Benedictine community of Saint Sabina in Budapest this afternoon, I was struck by the large mural on the wall that shows St Gerard Sagredo, the Venetian monk who became the first bishop of Csanád, addressing his brethren on the eve of his death: ‘Brothers and friends! Tomorrow we shall be called to the supper of the Lamb. Let us make haste and die for Christ!’ The story of Gerard is gripping for several reasons. It shows the European network that underpinned medieval Catholicism, at once enabling and relativising nationhood; it shows the role monasticism played in evangelisation; and it gives credible, amiable human features to an age often presented as lost in mythic mists. Gerard was consecrated a bishop the year St Olav died at Stiklestad, in 1030. He died on 24 September (so his feast is today) in 1046. The sanctoral constantly helps us to place ourselves within a long historical continuity. The way the world is developing at the moment, that is a gift to cherish, and to share.
