Feastday: April 18
1100 - 1176
Cardinal of Milan, Italy, a member of the noble Della Scalafamily of that city. After serving in various clerical offices in Milan, Galdinus was forced to flee in 1161 when Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa took revenge on Milan in a dispute with the Holy See. He was elected archbishop and created acardinal in 1165. Gabildus rebuilt Milan after Barbarossa’s occupation and was a fierce opponent of the Lombards.
from Wikipedia
Saint Galdino della Sala (c. 1096 – 18 April 1176), orSaint Galdinus (or Galdimus), is a Christian saint fromMilan in northern Italy. He was a staunch supporter both ofPope Alexander III, and of Milan and its neighbours inLombardy, in their joint and parallel struggles against theAntipope Victor IV, supported by Holy Roman EmperorFrederick I Barbarossa. He is remembered also for his charity in Milan to the poor and to those imprisoned for debt.
Life
He was born at Milan in the late 11th or early 12th century[1]into the della Sala family, minor nobility of the city.
He was a strong supporter of the Roman papacy in the schismthat erupted in 1159 after the death of Pope Adrian IV. Pope Alexander III was the Roman candidate, while Antipope Victor IV was supported by Frederick Barbarossa and his Cardinals. Galdino's Milanese church supported Alexander III, and Galdino, as archdeacon of the church, took a very public stand. Frederick came to besiege Milan and reduced it within six months.
Galdino joined Alexander III in Genoa and followed him to Maguelonne, Montpellier, and Clermont. He later followed him to Sicily and Rome upon his return in 1165. When Alexander returned to the papacy in 1165, he named Galdino cardinal of Santa Sabina, and the year later made him archbishop of Milan. The year after that, Alexander III made Galdino the apostolic legate for Lombardy.
When the Lombard League expelled Barbarossa, Galdino took possession of his see and began deposing any Lombard priests who were faithful to Victor IV. He consecrated new bishops at Lodi, Alba,Cremona, Vercelli, Asti, Turin, Novara, Brescia, and Alessandria.
On April 18, 1176 Galdino della Sala died in his pulpit, having just completed a sermon against theCathars, who were seen by orthodox Catholics as ‘heretics’.[2]
Cult
His feast day in the Roman Catholic Church, celebrated particularly in churches which follow theAmbrosian Rite, is April 18, the anniversary of his death.
Notes
- ^ http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/49900 states that he was born in 1096; other accounts place it at any time in the first few decades of the 1100s
- ^ 18 aprile S. Galdino vescovo - Santo del Calndario Santi Beati Martiri la vita e le opere mese di Marzo