Bicentenary

18 November 1864                                    

To R. D. Ildefonso Gaell, Sarriá

Dear Friend: A mission is the thermometer that marks and discovers the state in which religious sentiments lie in a country where it is practiced, and its acts are the history of the Church, and therefore I have always approved that there be a section in the Catholic Magazine for the missions of our country. I will keep watch whenever there is something of special attention.

After the planning of railways, Barcelona has taken it each day in greater proportions: Sans in the west; Gracia, San Gervasio and Sarria in the south, San Martín de Provensals, San Andrés del Palomar and San Juan de Horta in the east. These large populations are the suburbs of Barcelona, and these suburbs are those where we have our mission. Sans consists of about fifteen thousand souls, and ten thousand have inhabited there in a period of about ten years. España Industrial and many other industrial companies, big department stores, and myriads of carriages for transportation needed thousands of workers, and these came from all over Spain; and setting the trade and industry there they form the current population which is just one street of the east of Barcelona.

The church that was rebuilt is magnificent and very spacious, and we had the satisfaction of seeing her every night filled with people attentive to the voice of the missionary. Sans, with a considerable multitude of industrious and hardworking people, has given a public testimony of its religiosity.