Mystic Man in Rags
Gaudi: God’s architect, the man behind the dream
An old man dressed in rags, thought to be a street beggar, lays seriously injured beside a tram track in Barcelona on 7 June 1926. Given his perceived lowly status, most folks initially give the unconscious body a wide berth. Eventually some kind souls come to his aid and the seemingly homeless man gets taken to hospital, where he dies from his injuries three days later.
By the time he took his last breath in that hospital, they had discovered that this unidentified man was one of Barcelona’s most famous sons, Gaudi.
I didn’t have the foggiest clue who Gaudi — sometimes referred to as God’s architect — was when I visited Barcellona with one my sons a few years ago. But together with other famous sons of that city like Picasso and Salvador Dali, it doesn’t take long to get caught up in the artistic aura and legend around these fella’s once you get your bags unpacked.
My son, who had an architecture degree under his belt, assisted me in the endeavor, because he already knew much about Gaudi’s architectural masterpieces that are peppered around the city.
Without doubt, this man was an artistic genius, but I must confess that some of his work is, well, let’s just say, out there somewhere beyond my uneducated ability to fully appreciate it.
That said, even a rustic bum like me could not fail to be deeply moved by the magnificence, the beauty, and brilliance of Sagrada Família. This church, and now world listed heritage site, is perhaps his greatest legacy, a venture that he worked on tirelessly for forty years. He was on route to its incomplete structure when he got hit by the tram.
The special nature of what had already been erected by the time of his death is borne out by the fact that generations of dedicated architects, artisans, and builders have devoted their own lives to bringing the splendor of Sagrada Família to completion. It is now believed that the final competition date for the church will be in 2026, 144 years after the first stone was laid.
But it is the man behind the dream that most captured my imagination and continues to stir my heart and soul.
What manner of man was he? What philosophy of life would lead this fella who was already a legend in his own lifetime to abandon every vestige of privilege? To become someone who relinquished every trapping of high society life, that he so relished as a young man, to the point where he lay unrecognized in rags dying on the side of the road.
I believe the answer, in so far as one can ever find a real answer behind the mysterious working of such a genius, is that he followed the path of Christian mystic radical renunciation.
Without question, he had over time become a quintessential artistic recluse. An unmarried, socially shy hermit, and devout catholic, who seemed to prefer the company of the Christ above all else. This to a point where he is now being seriously considered for sainthood by those who concern themselves with such heavenly matters. Here was a God-man saintly indeed who abandoned the world so he could then brilliantly and creatively enhance it.
For me, I think pope Fransis, said to be a serious fan of Gaudi, probably captures the nature of the man best, when he described him as, “a great mystic.”
There is a sacredness and divine touch in all that this great mystic has left behind him for countless generations to relish. This mystic man in rags, comrades, was God’s architect.
— Cormac Stagg, author of The Quest for a Humble Heart
