The young monk Desiderius (later Pope Victor III) fell ill and traveled from Montecassino seeking treatment.

[2] Alfanus joined the Abbey of Montecassino in 1056, but did not remain there long before being sent to take charge of the Benedictine monastery in Salerno.

His interest in medicine and the translation of Arabic treatises on the subject led him to invite Constantine the African from Carthage (in what is now Tunisia) to Salerno to assist him.

In this he relied on the influential support of the Archbishop who praised and promoted the strong ties between the people of Salerno and St. Matthew's cult.

[8] In Alfanus' later days as archbishop, he sheltered the exiled reformer, Pope Gregory VII, who died in Salerno.