JUSTO GALLEGO MARTINEZ

My name is Justo Gallego. I was born in Mejorada del Campo on September 20, 1925. Since I was very young, I have had a deep Christian faith and I wanted to dedicate my life to the Creator. For this reason, at the age of 27, I entered the monastery of Santa María de la Huerta, in the province of Soria, from which I was excluded because of tuberculosis, for fear of contamination of the rest of the community.

 

When I returned to Mejorada and was disappointed by the failure of this first spiritual journey, I decided to build a work to offer to God on a piece of land belonging to my family. Little by little, this building was erected using the family patrimony that I had at my disposal. There are no plans for the building, no official project.

 

Everything is in my head. I am not an architect, nor a mason, nor do I have any training in the building trade. My education was interrupted when the civil war broke out. Inspired by various books on cathedrals, castles and other reference buildings, I gave birth to my own work. But my main source of light and inspiration has been, above all, the word of Christ. It is he who guides and sustains me, and it is to him that I offer my work, in gratitude for the life he has given me and in penance for those who do not follow his path.

 

For 42 years I have dedicated myself to the construction of this cathedral, even getting up at 3:30 in the morning to start my day.

With the exception of a few occasional helpers, I have done it all by myself, mostly with recycled materials... and there is no scheduled completion date. I limit myself to offering to the Lord each day of work that He wants to concede me and to feel happy with what I have already accomplished. And so I will continue, until the end of my days, pursuing this work with the very generous help that you offer me.

 

All this so that God may be gracious to us and let us enjoy the Eternal Glory at His side.