The legacy of Don Felix Granda. Great phrases of a priest and artist

Already in his childhood and youth, Felix Granda revealed himself as a a child with great artistic sensitivity and talent. As the years went by and he discovered his vocation to the priesthood, he continued to develop his artistic abilities and After his ordination to the priesthood in 1891, he continued to create religious art, convinced that, in some way, it was part of his personal vocation.  

After his first works of religious art, he began to receive commissions from Bishop Cos y Macho, bishop of the See of Madrid-Alcalá.  and later in Madrid. In 1899 he obtained the Gold Medal of the Second Division of the Regional Exhibition of Fine Arts of Gijón. and after being incardinated as a priest in the Diocese of Madrid-Alcalá, he continued his artistic training until 1904, when he moved to the Hotel de las Rosas, in Madrid, with the purpose of to bring together artists and craftsmen of all trades, who would help him in a great work of renewal of Christian art, which had fallen into decline due to the advent of the industrial arts.

We have gathered some of Don Felix's phrases that express his love for beauty and his particular vision of sacred art, which should always have the purpose of "showing Christ":

"To make an art impregnated with the odor of Christ, saturated with memories of the past, where the biblical spirit palpitates, and that this art be alive, because it is united to the trunk of traditions, and because, being of the past, it corresponds to the needs of the present: such is my desire."

"Gold and precious stones, when used only as materials, without art defining them, giving them form and beauty, are rather objects of ignoble ostentation and wealth, objects only of vanity (...) God wants more than vessels of gold, hearts of gold". 

"Of more value to the cultured man is a statue of Tanagra in clay, into which Hellenic art put its soul, than a shapeless gold sculpture of a decadent art."

"If the Eucharistic vessels are vessels of the Lord - mystical cup, mystical vessel in the expression of the Holy Fathers - let us put in them their sign: all that God has created, seen through the Holy Books and as the Church feels them."