Miguel Augusto
The Spanish Catholic evangelizing online platform religionenlibertad, recently reported the death of Justo Gallego, known as the enigmatic “architect” who built the surprising so-called “Cathedral of Mejorada.” It is a unique religious building, still unfinished, the fruit of faith, imagination, and the work of the hands of this humble man who used to call himself a farmer.
According to the site, on Sunday, November 28, self-taught architect Justo Gallego died at the age of 96 in Mejorada del Campo (Spain). This locality was forever transformed by the enigmatic and fascinating temple that was built there for sixty years, by the hands and ingenuity of Justo Gallego, a peasant who became a monk, but God wanted from him another life-path that was planted in his Christian heart: elevate to Him a Cathedral.
The Municipality of Mejorada, reports the article, declared three days of official mourning, and in April, it granted Justo the distinguished recognition of favorite son of the city.
“At the age of twenty-seven I went to the convent, on October 12, 1961, in Santa María de Huerta. I stayed there for eight years, but I got sick from the chest, from tuberculosis,” Justo told journalist Pedro del Castillo, in a interview entitled “The Good Side of Things” at the Cathedral site; Justo was already 93 years old. “I’ve never studied,” he humbly confessed to the journalist “My knowledge is a gift from God, which he gives to people. Mine started as a child, at home, I was a farmer, and I didn’t study architecture.”
Justo told Pedro del Castillo, “I don’t want fame, I’m not a bullfighter or a football player. You have to hide and be humble,” and he repeated “Everything has to be done with humility.”
Justo Gallego was born in 1925, in a village twenty-five kilometres from Madrid, and his neighbours and friends remember the big heart and the humility that characterized him.
The news mentioned that, according to a statement from the Mensajeros de la Paz, “he promised a hermitage to the Virgin Mary and, while building, he wanted to offer her something much better.” The work of six decades of this humble man – a strong testimony of faith – came in the form of thanksgiving to the Virgin of Pilar, for having cured him of tuberculosis, a disease that forced him to leave religious life. The land that gave life to the promise was inherited from his mother, a cradle that, from one man, gave birth to a Cathedral.
Without any technical knowledge of engineering or architecture, just that acquired by reading art books, Justo Gallego managed to build a unique Cathedral that combines, in its large dimensions, the use in large part of recycled materials. His inspiration is the Romanesque style, which for him is timeless. The final result culminated in an impressive cathedral, almost completed, and built to “give testimony of his great faith,” his surrender and love for God, having said that he had already disconnected from the world for many years. He was always characterized by his humility and always wanted to remain hidden from fame. He worked tirelessly until he was 96 years old, putting stone upon stone, supported by his faith and his great health secret: a lot of fasting and avoiding eating meat.
And all of this, highlights an article in Actualidad Viajes, without any type of floor plan, building permit or technical and architectural project, with the threat of demolition continually behind it.
On November 9, 19 days before his death, the news reports that Justo donated his Cathedral to the “NGO Mensajeros de la Paz” to conclude the project of his life, the “Cathedral of Faith.” Reports indicate that the project will proceed in partnership with the engineering company Calter, artificers of the Bernabéu stadium, and the Colón towers (Madrid). “It’s incredible that they built this cathedral to scale, without plans and without a project, and that just one person did it,” said impressed Jesús Jiménez, construction director at Calter.
Regarding the details of the Cathedral of Justo, the article tells us that the cathedral has an area of 4,700 square meters and a dome that reaches 35 meters high. It also has 12 towers 60-metre high, 28 domes and 2,000 stained glass windows. For Justo, his favourite part of the Cathedral was the dome, which took him thirty years to build.
Justo didn’t like to be the center of attention, underlines the article, which adds a curious fact: being globally known was not part of his plans when he was offered to star in one of Aquarius’ 2005 ads. And yet, it was thanks to this advertisement campaign that his project achieved international fame. It was also mentioned that he received 30,000 euros for the concession of the space, and since then he started to receive help from all corners of the world, both from volunteer labor and financial donations for the conclusion of the “monument.”
Justo Gallego received frequent visits from artists and international authorities, such as the German photographer Ulrich Brinkhoff.
The online article mentions that it was the mayor, Jorge Capa, who managed to get all the political groups present in the plenary of the City Council to approve the motion to legalize the Cathedral of Justo and its protection as a good of Cultural Interest. It’s also mentioned that, in the same gesture of recognition, Justo humbly referred to his desire for the Cathedral: “I am very proud to leave something for the Lord and for everyone – for those who love me and for those who don’t.”
Sacred Scripture, in the “voice” of the Apostle St Paul tells us something that shines through in the work of Justo Gallego: “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).
Contemplating the Cathedral of Justo: in its details, in its beauty, in its way of building, in its geometry and volume, is to contemplate an architectural space of God’s presence and Hand.
In Justo Gallego, one sees a man of admirable faith and determination, who, led by the mystery that moved in him, left it for everyone to contemplate and seek inspiration – beyond the work produced by the trace of the “pencil” that Justo was in the hands of the Creator, who led the drawing and supported the imaginable. It could be said: one man, one cathedral, as we are all temples of the Holy Spirit as St Paul tells us (cf 1 Corinthians 6:19); and when a man is moved by the Spirit, the divine shines forth and produces fascination.
Follow
