Miracle cures attributed to St. Joseph

Born into poverty, this saint dedicated his life to the poor

St. Joseph Oriol – March 23

- Photo by Ted Fitzgerald St. Joseph Oriol

By TED FITZGERALD
Special to the WCR
Barcelona, Spain

Those searching for Sant Josep Oriol will find him in his native Barcelona, capital of north-eastern Spain's Catalunya where he's honoured in the ancient and unusual Esglesia (church of) Santa Maria del Pi.

Josep was born in 1650 into a poor family, but because of his piety and dedication to his home parish of Santa Maria del Mar, clergy taught him to read and write and unknown benefactors enabled him to attend college and acquire a doctorate in theology.

Austere lifestyle

Ordained to the priesthood in 1676, he began to enjoy a lifestyle of ease until an encounter with a poor man caused him to abandon his materialistic ways. He began living in a tiny room, slept little, fasted constantly and dressed so poorly, he was ridiculed on the street.

During a pilgrimage to Rome, Pope Innocent XI personally appointed him as canon of a central Barcelona church, where he continued to live simply, caring for the poor, hearing confessions and acquiring a reputation for facilitating miraculous cures.

Josep was canonized in 1909 and is remembered each year on Catalan calendars on March 23, the anniversary of his death in 1702.

Sant Josep's church is situated a few blocks west of Barcelona's cathedral in the old Barri Gotic district close to the Rambla de Sant Josep section of the city's famous boulevard, La Rambla.

The shrine faces onto the intimate, but busy Placa del Pi, a square edged by shops and cafes that merges with the popular Placa de Sant Josep Oriol.

The much loved church that the saint inherited was famous even then as a textbook example of Catalan Gothic, rebuilt in 1322, 400 years after its beginnings.

Wide and austere, its simplicity is contradicted by an enormous rose window - said to be the world's largest - that dominates the building's fa‡ade.

- Photo by Ted Fitzgerald Santa Maria del Pi church is adorned with a celebrated rose window.

As with many Spanish churches, del Pi is a virtual museum of sacred art. Starting with a statue of Our Lady with the Christ Child above the main entrance, Mary is honoured in several of the 14 or so side chapels flanking the nave.

A simple sculpture of the church patron occupies a central niche in the apse wall behind the altar and she is venerated in one chapel as Our Lady of Mercy. Another Marian sculpture is admired as the single miraculous survivor of the civil-war-inspired arson that almost destroyed the church in 1936.

Map and plaque

What makes the church unusual and a major attraction for tourists is the presence of a map and plaque in the Sant Josep chapel that direct visitors (oddly enough, in English, since most signs in the city are written in Castilian or Catalan) to specific places in the church, including the saint's tomb, where miraculous cures are said to have taken place.

Controversy has recently risen over the desirability of having these directions in a church, but new cures are routinely reported in the parish bulletin.

Images and chapels honouring the popular local saint can also be seen in many of the city's parish churches such as Esglesia Santa Maria del Mar, his childhood parish.

In addition to its fundamental purpose as a parish church and a shrine honouring the saint, del Pi is also a popular venue for secular and religious musical concerts, often featuring the works of familiar national composers, such as Joaquin Rodrigo and Manuel de Falla.

Visitors leaving the historic church might decide to enjoy the daytime crowds that fill the little placas from the relative security of an outdoor table and enjoy a tantalizing chocolate waffle and tea.

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