Oldegar, St.
OLDEGAR, ST.
Political counselor, crusader, and re-founder of Tarragona metropolitanate; b. Barcelona, 1060; d. Barcelona, March 1, 1137. A child canon of Barcelona where he became deacon (1089), dean (1094), and priest, Oldegar (or Oleguer) retired to Saint-Adrian in Provence where he became prior (1099), then to its motherhouse, Saint Ruf in Avignon, where he became abbot (1113). In 1116 he was elected bishop of Barcelona, at that time the central see for the autonomous Count of Barcelona-Provence. In 1118 the pope and the count made him metropolitan in exile as well, with the task of restoring the metropolitanate of Tarragona, a step psychologically important to crusading Catalonia. Oldegar traveled to Rome and Palestine, to reform councils at Toulouse (1119) and reims (1119), to the first lateran council (1123), and to Clermont (1130). As crusade legate in spain, especially during the Tortosa and Lérida campaigns, Oldegar—in his position of peacemaker—helped remove Castilian armies from Aragon, thus preparing the way for the later union of Aragon and Catalonia.
Feast: March 6.
Bibliography: h. flÓrez et al., España sagrada (Madrid 1747–1957) 29:472–499, biog. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, rev. ed. h. thurston and d. attwater (New York 1956) 1:503–504. f. soldevila, Història de Catalunya, 3 v. (Barcelona 1962). For additional bibliog., see barcelona.
[r. i. burns]