Sagrada Familia Architect Gaudi on Path to Sainthood

Vatican City: Pope Francis on Monday put the architect of Barcelona’s iconic Sagrada Familia cathedral, Antonio Gaudi, on the path to sainthood by recognizing his “heroic virtues” and proclaiming him “venerable,” the first step on the way to becoming a Roman Catholic saint.

According to Ansa News Agency, this was the first such act since the 88-year-old Argentine pontiff left the hospital recently after five weeks battling life-threatening pneumonia. Gaudi, who died after a tram hit him in 1926 at the age of 74, designed the Modernist masterpiece in 1883. After the First World War, he dedicated all his energies to the Sagrada Familia, retiring from a life as a dandy and socialite to spend his last years in Catholic devotion. The cathedral is still being completed.

Gaudi’s case for sainthood was initiated by Barcelona’s archbishop in 1998 and was sent to the Vatican in 2003. Being proclaimed venerable is the first rung on the sainthood ladder, before beatification, for which more virtues must be attested, and canonization, for which two miracles are needed.