Galdino della Sala was born in Milan around 1096, into the della Sala family which was considered to be minor nobility of the city.
He was a strong supporter of the Roman papacy in the schism that 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 destroying 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 as the Cardinal Priest of the church of Santa Sabina, and a year later made him the 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 diocese 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 the Cathars, who were seen by orthodox Catholics as ‘heretics’.
Pope Alexander III canonized Galdino as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church during his pontificate.