Pope Francis on Monday placed Antoni Gaudí, the Catalan modernist once called “God’s architect” for his work on the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona’s world-famous basilica, on the path to sainthood.

Francis recognized his “heroic virtues” and authorized a decree declaring him “venerable,” a move toward sainthood, the Vatican said in a statement. For the next step, beatification, a miracle attributed to him would have to be verified. After that, a confirmation of yet another miracle would be required for Gaudí to be declared a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. The process can take years, even centuries.

The basilica marked the pope’s decision by noting on its website that after Gaudí died at 73, a leading prelate at the time called him God’s architect, and that the Sagrada Familia “opens hearts to beauty with its beauty.”

Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was born on June 25, 1852, most likely in Reus, Spain. He moved years later to Barcelona, where he studied architecture, earning his degree in 1878. After working on some small projects, according to the basilica’s website, “he soon became one of the most sought-after architects and began taking on larger commissions.”

The Gaudi Foundation notes that his association with the architect Joan Martorell i Montells brought Gaudí into contact with the rich industrialist and prominent Barcelona figure Eusebio Güell, which “helped to engender many of the imperishable works” still admired today.

Construction of the Sagrada Familia began in 1882, and Gaudí took over the project a year later, when he was 31. He worked on the basilica for more than four decades, the last 12 years of his life exclusively. It remains unfinished.

Gaudí was hit by a tram in Barcelona on June 7, 1926, and taken to the city’s hospital for the poor because he was not recognized. He died three days later.

In 2010, the basilica was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI, who described Gaudí as “a creative architect and a practising Christian who kept the torch of his faith alight to the end of his life, a life lived in dignity and absolute austerity.”

“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,” Benedict said in 2010.

In announcing the decree, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, which oversees the canonization process, described Gaudí as a faithful layman who, “moved by the yearning for union with the Lord,” led a “good spiritual and moral life above the ordinary.”

It added that Gaudí “offered to God the fruits of his own labor understood as a mission to make the people know and draw them closer to God, and made art a hymn of praise to the Lord.”

Cardinal Juan José Omella, the archbishop of Barcelona, said in a video statement on Monday that “it was a joy to receive the news” that Gaudí had been declared “venerable.” It was a recognition, he said, “not only of his architectural work, but of something more important than his holiness, that he is a man who was good.”

An association to promote Gaudí’s beatification was established in 1992, with the aim of achieving that goal “through the organization of lectures, exhibitions and publications; and to collect testimonies of favors granted by his intercession,” according to a book published by the association.

In 2023, the cause was submitted to the Vatican, and the Archdiocese of Barcelona became officially involved.

Not many artists have achieved saintly status. Some are prelates who also wrote poetry. One is an abbess who wrote musical compositions.

Fra Angelico, the Renaissance artist and Dominican friar who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982, may be the best known. A major Fra Angelico exhibition opens in Florence, Italy, on Sept. 26 and looks set to be one of the major European art shows of the fall.

As Gaudí inches toward sainthood, so, too, is the Sagrada Familia creeping toward completion. Two towers were finished in 2023, and the Sagrada Familia Foundation has said it hopes that the central, and tallest, tower will be finished by 2026 — the centennial of Gaudí’s death.

“He was a visionary, and a Christian visionary, so the cause for beatification is more than merited,” said the Italian historian Giovanni Maria Vian, who called the Sagrada Familia “the last great church” in the long history of ecclesiastical architecture in Europe.

Gaudí had conceived the basilica “as a religious monument to give praise and praise God,” he said, much like the craftsmen who worked on the great cathedrals of the Middle Ages.