POPE FRANCIS HAS paved the way for Antoni Gaudí, nicknamed “God’s architect”, to be made a saint.
In a bulletin published Monday, the recognised the “heroic virtues” of the designer of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica.
As well as overseeing the process of making someone a saint, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints verifies the authenticity of relics and oversees a fund to cover the expenses of causes.
The Dicastery described Gaudí as a “faithful layman” who “offered to God the fruits of his work and made art a hymn of praise to the Lord”.
It also noted that during the Lenten period in 1894, Gaudí became seriously ill due to a “rigorous fast which, although life-threatening, was at the same time a profound spiritual experience in his search for God”.
Work started on the Sagrada Familia 143 years ago in 1882, and a year later Gaudí took over as the chief architect and transformed the project.
The Dicastery said that after Gaudí’s father died 1906, he undertook a “true spiritual asceticism” and refused new assignments so he could concentre fully on the Sagrada Familia.
The Sagrada Familia is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world and when Gaudí died in 1926, the church was less than a quarter complete – it is estimated that the Sagrada Familia will be fully completed in 2034.
The church however was consecrated in 2010 by pope Benedict XVI, paving the way for its use as a place of worship.
At the time, Benedict praised “the genius of Antoni Gaudi… (who), inspired by the ardour of his Christian faith, succeeded in transforming this church into a praise to God made of stone”.
Gaudí died from injuries sustained after being hit by a tram in Barcelona and was brought to a hospital for the poor as he was not recognised.
The Dicastery reports that his last words were “My God, my God,” and he is buried in a crypt in the Sagrada Familia.
“It is a recognition not only of his architectural work but something more important,” said the Archbishop of Barcelona, Cardinal Juan Jose Omella.
“Gaudi has left a testimony for us all… he is saying you… amid life’s difficulties, amid work, amid pain, amid suffering, are destined to be saints,” Omella added.
Sainthood
In recognising Gaudí’s “heroic virtues”, the Church has made him “venerable”.
The next step towards sainthood is beatification, which follows a rigorous investigation into the person’s life and a posthumous miracle must also be attributed to them – the title of “Blessed” is bestowed to a person who has been beatified.
After being beatified, a second miracle is required for a person to be canonised and made a saint.
There have been periods in the Church in which few people were made saints – for example, in a 65-year period following the Reformation in the 1500s, which marked the beginning of Protestantism, no new saints were canonised.
But Pope John Paul II streamlined the process and canonised 483 saints – there had only been 300 or so canonisations in the previous 600 years.
This led some people to dub the Vatican a “saint factory”.
Pope Francis has so far canonised 942 saints and signing the decree to make Gaudí “venerable” was the first official appointment on Francis’s agenda since he was discharged from hospital following five weeks battling life-threatening pneumonia.
Francis also recognised a miracle attributed to Indian nun Eliswa Vakayil, who is set to be beatified.