Guy
was born near Ravenna in northern Italy to parents who took great pride
in him. Primarily to give them pleasure, he was meticulous in his dress
and personal appearance. Still, one day during a festival, realizing
the vanity of this way of being, and taken with deep compunction, he
stripped himself of his fine garments and gave them all away to the
poor.
To his parents’ further mortification, their son donned shabby garments and departed for Rome, where he received the tonsure.
On
his return, he placed himself under the direction of a hermit named
Martin, who lived alone on a small island in the River Po. After three
years of directing Guy, the hermit sent him to the Abbey of Pomposa to
learn the ways of monastic life.
There Guy so advanced in virtue
that he quickly rose to high office, and was elected abbot. Such was his
reputation and so many flocked to the abbey that he was obliged to
build another. Even his father and his brother joined the monastery.
At
certain times of the year Abbot Guy would retire into solitude a few
miles from his monastery and there would submit his body to severe
austerities. Particularly during the forty days of Lent the austerities
were such as to resemble tortures, and yet, he was extraordinarily
tender toward his monks who were devoted to him.
Guy did not
escape the persecution which often comes to those seeking holiness. For
unknown reasons, the Archbishop of Ravenna had developed a hatred for
the holy abbot and determined to destroy his monasteries. When Guy
learned of the imminent attack, he fasted for three days, joined in this
mortification by the entire community of monks. When the archbishop
arrived with his soldiers, he was met by Guy with such humility and
respect, that he was overwhelmed and asked the abbot's pardon.
Towards
the close of his life Guy again withdrew to his solitary hermitage. The
Emperor Henry III, who had come to Italy to consult with the holy
abbot, summoned him to Piacenza. Though he was unwilling to do so, the
aged abbot obeyed, taking a tender farewell from his brothers whom he
said he would see no more. Attacked by a sudden illness in Borgo San
Donnino near Parma, he died three days later.
Both Parma and
Pomposa claimed his relics, but the emperor settled the dispute by
having his body translated to the Church of St. John the Evangelist at
Speyer in Germany.
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
St. Guy of Pomposa
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