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.

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.

[3] 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.

[7] On the other hand, Carlile Aylmer Macartney says that the Long Life preserved the original form of Gerard's earliest (now lost) biography.

[10][5] 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.

[10] 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.

[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.

[10][13][12] 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).

[14] At the age of five, Gerard was taken seriously ill.[15] His recovery was attributed to the prayers of the Benedictine monks of the San Giorgio Monastery in Venice.

[17] The use of certain expressions (including dux verbi, or "leader of the Word") suggests that Gerard read Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in Greek.

[19] 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.

[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".

[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 in Székesfehérvár.

[30] 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.

[33][34] 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.

[12] During the following years, Gerard built a chapel at the foot of a hill,[35] and wrote theological studies and homilies (which were later lost).

[37] After the conquest of Ajtony's territory, Stephen I summoned Gerard from his hermitage and made him bishop of the newly established Diocese of Csanád.

[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.

[47] His Long 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".

[37] The Long Life credits Gerard with the building of churches "for every city" in his diocese to serve the growing number of believers.

[50] Although the Long Life attributes the establishment of the archdeaconries of Gerard's diocese to him, most scholars regard this statement as a clear anachronism.

[51] During a travel from Csanád to the royal court in Székesfehérvár or Esztergom, he and one of his clerics, Walther, stayed in a manor where a slave woman was singing while making flour on a grinder.

[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.