GEBARDO, archbishop of SALISBURGO, blessed. - Probably of the family of the counts of Helfenstein, between 1057 and 1059 he was chancellor of the Empire; in 1060 he was elected and consecrated archbishop of Salisburgo. Zealous and energetic in the administration of his archdiocese, he founded in 1072 the suffragan bishopric of Gurk and the Benedictine monastery of Admont.
A most faithful follower of Gregorio VII and a courageous supporter of ecclesiastical reform, G. took part in the Synod of Rome in 1074 and in the assembly of the German princes at Tribur in 1076. In 1077 he was expelled from his diocese by King Enrico IV. Two letters to Ermanno of Metz remain from his exile, which lasted nine years; the second concerns the election of Guiberto of Ravenna as antipope (Clemente III). Only in 1086 was he able to return to his diocese.
He died on 15 June 1088 at Werfen and is buried in the monastery of Admont. His cause for canonization, introduced in 1629, was not concluded.