The Basilica of Santa María del Pi in Barcelona has recovered the image of a the baby Jesus who was saved during a fire at the beginning of the civil war by British athlete Philip Arthur Dee, who competed in the People’s Olympic Games in July 1936.
Since then, the figure has been in Dee’s home in Wales. When the athlete died in 2001, his family found it in a box with a text telling his story. On Monday, his daughter, Maralyn Westbury, returned it to the parish.
Curator Jordi Sacasas explained the character’s story to LaSexta: “They came out of the hotel and saw that there was a bonfire. Right at the door, They found a little baby Jesus, worthless, but with melting eyes“.
After 88 years, The child Jesus returned to the chapel of the Virgin of Cinta temporarily until a permanent location is found.
