Every 6th of March visitors can see the chamber at the Cathedral of Barcelona where the glass case containing the incorrupt body of Saint Olegarius is kept, dressed in bishops robes.
Saint Olegarius was born in Barcelona under the name Olegari Bonestruga and formed part of a noble family. He was presbyter and Canon regular of the chapterhouse of the Cathedral of Barcelona and, subsequently, Canon regular of Saint Rufus of Avignon with residence at the convent of Saint Adrian of Besós.
Saint Olegarius was advisor to the Counts Ramon Berenguer III and Ramon Berenguer IV. In 1116, under the rule of Ramon Berenguer III and Pope Pasqual II, he was named bishop of Barcelona. After the conquest of Tarragona, he was made Archbishop of Tarragona while maintaining the bishopric of Barcelona. From then on he acted as Archbishop in full right and, as Ecclesiastic administrator, received the territories of the diocese of Tortosa, which had not yet been restored.
Olegarius – together with great popes and reformers like Gregory VII and Calisto II and the abbots of Cluny – pushed for Church Reform, starting with his dioceses of Barcelona and Tarragona.
He died on 6 March 1137 and was officially canonized in 1675.
His sepulcher is in the Baroque style and was made by the sculptors Francesc Grau and Domènec Rovira II. Nevertheless, the underlying Gothic sculpture by Pere Sanglada (1406) is still conserved.
