On August 26, Josep Urdeix Dordal, deacon of the archbishopric of Barcelona, known for his work in the field of Christian liturgy, left us. Auxiliary Bishop Sergi Gordo, in his homily at the funeral mass for his eternal rest held this Sunday, said that Josep Urdeix was, in Barcelona, the deacon par excellence. It is a title that really defines him, because throughout his earthly life he has been a tireless worker. And a friend always ready to help and serve, honoring the etymology of the word deacon, which means servant. His face and bushy beard, typical of an Eastern pope, were familiar to many, and many of us have also witnessed his kindness.
Josep Urdeix (Barcelona, 1940) was one of the first to accept the decision of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), to restore the ancient order of deacons in the Catholic Church, to which celibate and married people have access . Josep Urdeix, married and father of three daughters, was ordained in 1981.
In his youth he paid particular attention to the theatrical world, from which he had great admiration for the good use of words and solidarity with this world, in which he had great friendships. He wrote a renovating text on the Passion of the Lord with the title of Christ, mystery (Barcelona, 1965), performed by young people in a parish center in Horta, the neighborhood where he lived all his life. Whoever writes this –then he was young– remembers that he attended with emotion: that was really a new style in which the Word –another name of Jesus– acquired a leading role and a singular relief. He also published the translation of T. S. Eliot's play Asesinato en la Catedral (Barcelona 1966) and worked as a theater critic for the newspaper El Correo Catalán and published articles in the magazines El Ciervo i Foc Nou.
Since 1961 he has collaborated with the Liturgical Pastoral Center of Barcelona, always at the service of the proper use of the word. Along with other priests, deacons and laity, Mosén Urdeix has been a great promoter of the application in Catalonia of the liturgical reform promoted by the Second Vatican Council, with the outstanding decision to introduce living languages in the celebrations of Catholic worship. Urdeix has been a servant of liturgical culture and spirituality, and was also an efficient general secretary of the third Montserrat Liturgical Congress (1990).
As a collaborator of the remembered Catalan liturgist, Bishop Pere Tena (1928-2014), he has been spiritually present at the funeral of Urdeix in an emotional way. It turns out that, in an act of homage to our deacon from years ago, the auxiliary bishop of Barcelona, from his privileged knowledge of the liturgy and of the person of Urdeix, read some pages in which Urdeix felt so justly interpreted that At the end of the ceremony, with his usual sense of humor, he told his friends: "I liked what Bishop Tena wrote so much that you can even read it at my funeral, when it's time!" Well, that's how it's been done. Someone found the text in question, which was read with emotion in the cathedral by deacon Ramon Ollé at the closing of the funeral, held last Sunday. The text has been published on the website of the Archdiocesan Church of Barcelona so that those who remember our deacon par excellence can read it.
