Arialdo was the child of a noble family, born at
Cutiacum (
Cucciago), near
Como. After studying in
Laon and
Paris, he was made a
canon in the cathedral city of Milan. According to Andrea da Parma, abbot of San Fedele di Strumi, who wrote a
Vita concerning Arialdo, the church in Milan was rife with immoral clerics, fornicating, sleeping with prostitutes, lending money, and selling indulgences. According to
Henry Charles Lea marriage was commonplace among the Milanese clergy. Together with Bishop of Lucca
Anselmo da Baggio (later Pope Alexander II), Arialdo headed the
pataria, a movement that sought to reform Milan's
simoniacal clergy. ==Veneration==