Canonization cause advances for ‘God’s architect,’ Antoni Gaudí
The beatification cause for Antoni Gaudí, the Catalan architect known as “God’s architect” and designer of the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona, Spain, just completed an important step on the path to officially declaring him a saint in the Catholic Church.
Gaudí’s cause for beatification has been transferred from a civil association to an ecclesial association and has entered its “final process,” according to the Archdiocese of Barcelona. This means that he may soon be elevated to the status of “venerable,” the precursor to the status of blessed and saint.
The Archdiocese of Barcelona has submitted what is known as the “positio super vita, virtutibus, et fama sanctitatis” (position on the life, virtues, and reputation of holiness), which it said is the fundamental argument in favor of Gaudí’s beatification. The positio was sent to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the archdiocese revealed in a Dec. 4 statement.
According to the archdiocese, this puts the cause in its “final process towards beatification.”
The dicastery will now decide whether to further advance the cause of the Catalan architect who is currently considered a “servant of God.”
If the dicastery approves, it will present the positio to the pope, who would then authorize its publication, allowing Gaudí to be called “venerable.”
Though the Church’s canonization process is lengthy and Gaudí’s cause has been open for decades, CNA reported in 2015 that Pope Francis expressed a desire to move the cause forward. In a 2015 meeting with the Association for the Beatification of Antoni Gaudí, Francis called Gaudí “a great mystic,” according to a CNA interview with Jose Manuel Almuzara, head of the association.
The group of primarily lay Catholics first began investigating the possibility of Gaudí’s sainthood in 1992. The cause for his canonization was then officially opened by the Vatican in 2003.
Cardinal Juan José Omella of Barcelona on Dec. 4 further signaled the archdiocese’s support for Gaudí’s canonization cause by transferring the case to a canonical association that will handle the cause from now on. The canonical association consists of Omella as well as several priests and lay faithful.
Gaudí, who died in 1926 at the age of 73, was a modernist and naturalist architect best known for the massive Sagrada Familia Basilica that towers over the city of Barcelona.
Though designed by Gaudí, the church has been under construction for more than 100 years. Its multitude of towering spires and unique architecture have made it one of the most renowned churches in the world.
