Poetry and prophecy

Trobada internacional d’Universitats Lassalianes.

Temple de la Sagrada Família de Barcelona, 10.11.22

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Here, at this point, two trinities converge: that of Heaven (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and that of earth (Jesus, Mary and Joseph).

Upon entering here the first thing we feel is surprise, admiration and a deep emotion in front of this unique construction. Here, poetry, architecture and prophecy, dialogue. The exterior of the Sagrada Família looks so much like a rocky mountain in the middle of the city, a great fortress, heavily loaded with elements. In interior, on the other hand, there is a great simplicity, the light enters indirectly, it seems that we are entering a forest, in that beech grove of Jordà, near Olot, in the north of Catalunya, which Joan Maragall, poet friend of Gaudí, was talking about. When in 2010, in preparation for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, they removed the scaffolding from the nave, the foreman and all the workers began to cry.

Poetry comes from poiesis, which means to create, to work. Gaudí was a great creative, selfless and tireless worker. In his imagination, he saw the Sagrada Família already finished, even though he knew that he would not finish it. A cathedral is the work of centuries. And that’s why he explained it with great enthusiasm and humor to outsiders. The Nuncio Ragonesi who visited it in 1915, in the midst of the World War, paid Gaudí a compliment that pleased the architect very much: "you are the Dante of architecture." In other words, you make poetic architecture. Every poet has something of a prophet. Gaudí made several prophecies about the Sagrada Família. One of them is that when it was finished, people would come from all over the world. And so it is today! People come from all over the world. 3,5 million visitors a year. Everyone identifies with some detail. It is a monument to the faith of the people, that simple faith that Pope Francis speaks of.

Another prophecy is that Gaudí sensed that a time would come when it would be necessary to remove the altarpieces to the street, and that is why he wanted to make the facades where there is so much iconography of the life of Jesus, Mary, Joseph... Every element of the Sagrada Família is very well thought out and reminds us of the afterlife and attracts us: it is an announcement of the outgoing church of Pope Francis. Even the inscriptions sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, on the towers are carved in a very high place so that even the unbeliever has to look up to heaven and, reading them, chant a prayer...

At the door of faith on the nativity facade, there are two complementary sculptural groups: the flight into Egypt and the slaughter of the innocent. Courage and cruelty. What we call the flight to Egypt, for the Coptic church is the arrival in Egypt; the first and perhaps the only intercontinental journey of Jesus and his parents. Everything is sweetness, despite such adverse circumstances. They make us think of so many displaced around the world. The second group is of great cruelty. The model of the executioner had six toes on his feet and Gaudí asked to be represented like that because he said that imperfection leads to cruelty. They are sculptures based on real photographed models.

Notice that inside the temple there are no images and the only altar is the high altar. This altar is under a canopy from which hang grapes and ears of corn. It evokes the table in the farmer’s house, under a vine, the place where the family has lunch in the summer. We are all invited.

On the Passion facade, the columns are monumental trees, the largest living beings on the planet and dramatically crooked. Gaudí said that nature was the first book from which all others copied. Trees were Gaudí’s teachers. Sequoias, despite being so tall and stocky, but also die. Gaudí designed the Passion facade when he was convalescing from a serious illness. In bed, he learned the science of suffering that his friend, Bishop Torras i Bages, spoke of. He wanted everyone to meditate on death. These monumental trees of California and Viladrau, in the heart of Catalunya, were inspired by the sequoias.

The sculptor Subirachs devised this representation of the descent into the tomb. Two characters hold the body of Jesus. The one at the top is Josep of Arimathea (Antoni Gaudí) the one at the feet is Nicodemus (Josep Maria Subirachs), the wise man who conversed with Jesus at night. Subirachs was agnostic, however, as Nicodemus wanted to know Jesus and read the entire Bible to make a facade. One at the head and the other at the feet. As if to indicate that one started the facade, the other finished it, modifying the original iconographic plan, but with great force.

Gaudí also said that in the temple everything is providential. It was his origin. The way in which Gaudí took charge of the works, indirectly, by delegation from his mentor Joan Martorell Montells. Gaudí said of him that he was “a sage and a saint”. It was providential that at the precise moment when the crypt had already been finished, a donation arrived that caused the project to change completely and go from one tower to eighteen, the highest of which must reach one hundred seventy-two meters which, added to the thirty above sea level, is 202, lower than Montjuïc, because “the work of man must never want to surpass the work of God”, Gaudí said. Divine providence has manifested itself throughout the history of the temple until today... The architect Jordi Bonet explained to us that this stone block from Iran was not originally intended for an altar, but they noticed that there were the marks of four bars and a cross which is the coat of arms of the archbishopric of Barcelona. It is also providential that each of us is here. From different places, but united by the same emotion: you enter the Sagrada Familia as a tourist and leave as a pilgrim.

Thank you very much.