GEBARDO II, bishop of COSTANZA, saint. - Born at Pfannenberg, near Bregenz, of a noble comital family, about the middle of the 10th century; died at Costanza on 27 Aug. 995. Educated in his youth by St. Corrado, bishop of Costanza, he attended the school attached to the episcopal residence. His membership in the Benedictine Order, asserted by some authors, was already denied by Mabillon.
Elected bishop of Costanza in 979 or 980, also with the support of Emperor Ottone II, he induced his brothers to make an equitable division of the inheritance, spending his share on the foundation of the Benedictine monastery of Petershausen. In 983 he began its church, which he subsequently consecrated in 992, dedicating it to St. Gregorio and enriching it with relics brought from Rome. At his death he was buried there, and on the anniversary it was customary to distribute the “Bread of St. G.” (Gebhardt-Brotlin). Feast on 27 Aug. in the diocese of Costanza; he is not included in the Martyrology.