The Vatican has put Gaudí on a path to sainthood. But would the architect want that? Heaven only knows.
In April 2025, the celebrated Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí took the first steps towards becoming a saint when the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had authorised a decree declaring him “venerable”. Next up: beatification. Now at this stage you need to prove that the person had a life filled with heroic values, a saintly reputation and is responsible for one or two miracles along the way too (maybe curing tourists’ sore knees after traipsing up all the steps at Barcelona’s Park Güell?).
To be frank, you would have hoped that the creation of the Sagrada Família basilica, 144 years in the making, would have been enough of an endeavour to swing a sainthood. Because while this might be one of the most exclusive clubs in the world, surely there’s the potential to advance swiftly the occasional candidate? The Pope is perhaps mindful of the fact that, while Gaudí was an incredibly devout Catholic who remained single all his life and put his body through intense and lengthy fasts to display his commitment to God, he was, after all, an architect.
Now it’s not impossible, but it’s quite hard to be an architect and remain, well, saintly, at all times. Builders, meddling planners and ill-informed critics all tend to push these sensitive souls over the emotional edge every now and then. The esteemed writer on Catholicism Peter Stanford has indeed suggested that perhaps Gaudí is too complex and rich a figure to be moved along this particular conveyor belt. Sainthood, he said, “reflects an extraordinary life of religious devotion, and that clearly was a very important part of him, but it puts him in too small a box. In terms of people who could be in the biggest box possible or no box at all, Gaudí seems to me to be a very good example, because his imagination knew no boundaries.” There is also the question of whether Gaudí would have wanted this. Because someone upstairs was neglecting his needs when, in 1926, he was run over by a tram and killed while walking to church.
In the end, however, it matters little whether he is made an official saint, because people are already enraptured and mesmerised by his work, and make pilgrimages to see Casa Vicens and Casa Milà. And they can witness a true miracle: the Sagrada Família. “God’s architect” has already become a people’s saint.
