Gaudi's Sagrada Familia Consecrated & Designated a Basilica

It is still unfinished since after the first stone was laid in 1877, and its completion is expected by 2026 at the  earliest. It is hoped that the main entrance and the cloisters surrounding the building will be completed by  2016.

 

This is the Sagrada Familia (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family), considered the masterpiece of the reclusive Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) although the writer George Orwell described it as "one of the world's  most hideous buildings."

Its construction began in 1882, based on a traditional neo-Gothic design by Francisco de Paulla Villar. When Gaudi took over in 1883, he overhauled the plan completely to  include 18 spires and five naves, richly detailed with colorful ceramic adornments. Once completed, it will become the world's tallest church with its central tower at 170 m (560ft). 

Religious services had been held in its underground crypt through the years but it was only last Sunday, 07 November, that the first mass was celebrated at the central nave by the head of the Roman Catholic Church himself, Pope Benedict XVI, when he consecrated Barcelona's emblematic Sagrada Familia and designated it a basilica. 

Gaudi devoted the last 15 years of his life entirely to the project, living and working on site. Construction was slow, and Gaudi's defense was "my client is not in a hurry."  He died in 1926, when he was ran over by tram 30 of Barcelona.

The Sagrada Familia is now a UNESCO world heritage site. The building is funded by donations and fees collected from visitors. It is said that in his time, Gaudi would even go out to beg for money to help pay for the project.

Here are some reflections of Pope Benedict on Antoni Gaudi and the Sagrada Familia in his homily during the consecration mass, which make us understand why Gaudi has been called "God's architect" through the years --

"What do we do when we dedicate this church? In the heart of the world, placed before God and mankind, with a humble and joyful act of faith, we raise up this massive material structure, fruit of nature and an immense achievement of human intelligence which gave birth to this work of art. It stands as a visible sign of the invisible God, to whose glory these spires rise like arrows pointing towards absolute light and to the One who is Light, Height and Beauty itself.

Source:  Inside pages, El Mercurio, 08 Nov 2010.

"In this place, Gaudí ...made stones, trees and human life part of the church so that all creation might come together in praise of God, but at the same time he brought the sacred images outside so as to place before people the mystery of God revealed in the birth, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this way, he brilliantly helped to build our human consciousness, anchored in the world yet open to God, enlightened and sanctified by Christ. In this he accomplished one of the most important tasks of our times: overcoming the division between human consciousness and Christian consciousness, between living in this temporal world and being open to eternal life, between the beauty of things and God as beauty. Antoni Gaudí did this not with words but with stones, lines, planes, and points. Indeed, beauty is one of mankind's greatest needs; it is the root from which the branches of our peace and the fruits of our hope come forth. Beauty also reveals God because, like him, a work of beauty is pure gratuity; it calls us to freedom and draws us away from selfishness.

"...  In this masterpiece, Gaudí shows us that God is the true measure of man; that the secret of authentic originality consists, as he himself said, in returning to one's origin which is God. Gaudí, by opening his spirit to God, was capable of creating in this city a space of beauty, faith and hope which leads man to an encounter with him who is truth and beauty itself. The architect expressed his sentiments in the following words: "A church [is] the only thing worthy of representing the soul of a people, for religion is the most elevated reality in man"."

References:

1.  "Pontiff's Homily at Gaudi's Holy Family Church."  (2010, November 07). Zenit. Retrieved from http://www.zenit.org/article-30878?l=english

2.  Tremlett, Giles. (2010, November 07). New hope in campaign to make Antoni Gaudi a saint.  The Observer Online. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/07/antoni-gaudi-sagrada-familia-miracle

3.  "Pope Benedict consecrates Barcelona's Sagrada Familia." (2010, November 07).  BBC News Europe.  Retrieved from 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11705036