Dr. Álvarez
Behold there, reading friend, a photograph that heads these lines and that, when looking at it, has inspired them. A photograph showing a man with his assistant, at the climax of putting the weather vane on the reconstructed bell tower. I still remember with intense emotion that afternoon in May of the year 52, when, when passing through the square, I observed several groups of people looking up and, out of systematic curiosity, I did the same. They were contemplating the placement of the weather vane as the finishing touch to the reconstruction work on the church bell tower.. At the top of it, a man who, windswept, all the clothes seemed to come off his body, I was trying to place, in the center of its dome, the large weather vane that as an indicator of the direction of the wind, It is usually placed in all temples. Contemplating that heroic scene, It came to my imagination that everything about this town, everything about Bañeres, it was the same: grande, huge, fantastic, titanic. That man was taking a big risk.; without protection of any kind, without even a point to lean on in case of a stumble, from a dizziness, of a possible vertigo that, by causing the fall, it would necessarily be fatal, deadly necessity, he did it with aplomb, with surprising serenity. What a shame – I thought for a moment.- that that great scene would not be captured on a canvas, fixed your image…! And how I thought, so i did it. I went to Marujita Sempere's house so she could let me have her camera.; since I didn't have a reel, I went in search, at your request, by Maruja Pérez, which, hasty, the machine charged me. Flying more than running, because I was afraid I wouldn't arrive in time to capture the image, I marched towards the town castle, from where I took the photograph.
When I asked José l'Obrer the next day - since he had been the protagonist of the bell tower scene - at some point he was afraid or afraid of falling., since he worked in such poor personal safety conditions, peacefully, he answered me: “Don Jorge; when he was up there, thought in Sant Jordi. Want more protection??”I was right; nothing could happen to him, because he trusted in the protection of his saint and patron Saint George. And that is precisely why, everything about Bañeres, I repeat, it has to be great; for the great faith we have in our Saint George and, safely, that if we continue to maintain this faith, A town in these conditions will never lack men who, emerging from nowhere, They will know how to reach the summit; men who will continue to make new and beautiful buildings flourish, new large factories among rocks and cliffs; men who will continue to emulate those who have had the initiative to quench the thirst of a town without water and who, despite being arduous and fraught with difficulties, the undertaking, They have been able to bring it to a successful conclusion; mens, a fine, what, like José l'Obrer, They will be able to place a new weather vane, even higher if possible.
Go as the end of these lines, a memory for the one who left us in this valley of tears a couple of years ago, for José Beneyto Berenguer, popularly known by José l'Obrer. A simple and good man and very respectful of his religious beliefs.. During the reconstruction of the temple he was never seen smoking inside it and always with his head uncovered.. Every time when passing through the door of the church I saw him sitting on one of the benches resting from his heavy work and I went in to ask him details about the progress of the works., always, with some dissimulation, He got us to talk right at the door of the temple. And when someone with sufficient authority proposed, upon completion of the works, perpetuate them with a plaque on which his name appears as the creator of them, he humbly refused. With men like that, and there are many in this town, each one with his activity and with the great protection that our Saint and Patron San Jorge gives us., There is no doubt that Bañeres will go very far.
