Barcelona’s Antoni Gaudí to be made saint

He was the brains behind the city’s most quirky architecture, including the salamander in Parc Guell and the majestic yet still unfinished Sagrada Familia.

Revered by tourists and locals alike, Antoni Gaudi (née 1852) is now reportedly set to receive an ‘award’ which will distinguish him from all other symbolic architects throughout the ages.

According to Catalonia’s leading radio station RAC1, Pope Francis will make the Reus mastermind the patron saint of architects in 2015.

The campaign has been headed by the Pro Beatification for Antoni Gaudí Association, who for the past ten years worked hand in hand with the Vatican compiling hundreds of documents about Gaudí’s life and testimonies by those who knew him.

“If everything goes well, the process will be finished by spring 2015, with the final document written up and Pope Francis’s signature on it,” campaign leader José Manuel Almuzara told RAC1.

Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process.

Although Gaudí will most likely reach the veneration stage, the fact that there’s no proof yet he carried out a miracle may prevent him from being fully canonized.

Nicknamed God’s Architect due to his profound faith and attribution of his greatest work to the Almighty, he dedicated the last years of his life to trying to complete ‘the Cathedral of the Poor’, La Sagrada Familia.