Guido Strambiati was abbot of Pomposa for 38 years, leading its spiritual and material life from 1008 to 1046. On 31 March of that year, death stopped him while he was travelling to Pavia for the synod of bishops and abbots convened at the behest of the Germanic King Henry III, known as The Black. He would not take part in the discussions to resolve the serious internal conflicts within the papacy, which would lead to the deposition of three popes: Benedict IX; Sylvester III; Gregory VI. However, the history of Abbot Guido would remain linked to that of Henry III. In fact, it was Henry III who wanted to take the monk’s body to the German city of Speyer in the same year, on his return from Rome after supporting the rise to the papal throne of Clement II and being crowned emperor.
The body of the Benedictine monk was transported to Parma by the two monks who accompanied him on the journey, and then brought back to Pomposa for burial, which was planned, as for all monks, within the monastery to which they belonged. In Parma, the presence of the body coincided with some miracles and Henry III decided to transfer the body to San Zeno in Verona and from there to Spira, more precisely to the Church of San Giovanni.
On 4 May 1047, the day of Pentecost, the Saint’s body was placed in a marble sarcophagus bearing the inscription HID REQUIESCAT CORPUS S. GUIDONIS ABBATIS and became the city’s co-patron.
In 1689, the city and the church were destroyed by the King of France, Louis XIV, and the remains of Saint Guido were temporarily moved to the Cathedral. They returned to the Church of San Giovanni in 1750, relocated to the high altar. But there was really no peace and 44 years later French troops entered Speyer and sacked the church, dispersing the sacred remains “[…] among the oats piled up on the floor”. The nuns of the Convent of St. Mary Magdalene recovered part of them and kept them in their church.
In 1689, with the destruction of the town and the church, the relics were temporarily taken to a safe place. In 1750, the Church of St. John was rebuilt and the relics brought back and placed on the high altar, but then in 1794, with the entry of French soldiers brought in by the Revolution, the church was sacked, and the remains of the Saint were dispersed “…among the oats piled on the floor…”. Thanks to the nocturnal intervention of the compassionate and intrepid nuns of the nearby convent of St Mary Magdalene, it was possible to recover part of the remains and place them safely in the church of their monastery.
In 1775, the pomposian monks, by then in the monastery of St Benedict in Ferrara, obtained some relics of the saint, while two of his tibiae, still in Speyer, were repositioned in 1930 in the Church of St Guido, which then became the responsibility of the Missionary College of the Spiritan Fathers. At the end of the 20th century the Church of St. Guido was deconsecrated because the Fathers abandoned their mission; the relics were relocated to the Bishop’s private chapel.
Abbot Guido was struck down by a violent fever in Borgo San Donnino (today’s Fidenza) and died there in 1046, confirming the farewell with which he had bid farewell to his brethren in Pomposa, announcing that they would never see each other again. He returned spiritually to Pomposa only on 19th November 2000, when one of the two surviving tibias was brought by the German Bishop Schlembach as a gift to Pomposa Abbey.
The case is particular, since it was a group of parish priests from Speyer visiting Pomposa in 1997 who made the request for the restitution of the Saint’s remains. In fact, a tourist guide had informed them of an appeal, which was never fulfilled. Today, one tibia is in the Cathedral of Speyer, more precisely in the chapel of St. Catherine, and the other in the left aisle of Pomposa Abbey.

– Cover from a shot by Roberto Romagnoli –