Most people overestimate what they can do in a day, and underestimate what they can do in a month. We overestimate what we can do in a year, and underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade.

Saint Gerard Sagredo didn’t make this mistake. He took the long view…and influenced the faith of an entire nation.

Gerard was born into a noble family in Venice some time near the year 1000. He was well educated at a Benedictine Monastery as a child. In the year 1020, he set off on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but a storm forced his boat to take refuge on an island near Istria, a peninsula in Croatia. While he was there, he was invited to visit the Kingdom of Hungary and was soon introduced to King Stephen.

King Stephen was a recent convert to Christianity who had set his sights on making Hungary a Christian nation. He proposed an opportunity to Gerard: stay in Hungary and help play a role in converting the whole nation.

Gerard could have taken the short view. He was only meant to be on a pilgrimage to see the Holy Land, not a missionary trip that could alter the trajectory of his entire life. Instead, he took the long view. It wouldn’t take just a month or a year to convert the nation. But in a few decades it was possible—and Gerard could help make it happen.

Gerard went on to become first the tutor of the King’s son, Prince Emeric. Mentoring the future king was another way to take the long view. Eventually, Gerard was appointed as a bishop and spent years going on missions to effectively convert the nation. When King Stephen died and civil war broke out, Gerard stepped up to defend Christianity against violent pagans. He ultimately sacrificed his own life to preserve the faith he had worked so hard to instill in the nation for 25 years. Today, he is one of the patron saints of Hungary.

Whatever it is you wish to succeed at in life, personally or professionally, few skills will serve you better than the ability to take the long view. We are surrounded by a short-term, instant gratification mentality in our modern culture. Practice taking the long view. Consider the effects that your actions and commitments will have not only in the present but also far into the future.

Don’t underestimate what you can accomplish if you take the long view.



Feast Day: September 24

Feast Day Shared By: Blessed Virgin Mary of the Mercy, Saint Pacific of San Severino, and Blessed Columbia Rawski

Patron Saint of: Hungary 

Also Known As: Gerard of Hungary, Apostle of Hungary

Symbols: Cross, Bishop’s Crosier 

Canonized: 1083

Canonized By: Pope Gregory VII