José Murillo Tejada, known in l'Hospitalet de Llobregat as Father Murillo, died at the age of 91 on Monday, May 18, after a trajectory of half a century at the head of the parish of Mare de Déu de la Llum, in the Florida neighborhood. The priest arrived in the area in 1962 and served as rector since the founding of the church, in 1966, until he handed over the position to Manolo Martínez.
His figure was linked not only to the religious life of the neighborhood but also to its social and neighborhood organization. During Francoism and the democratic transition, he opened the parish and the Florida Social Center to protest assemblies and clandestine meetings, a function that went beyond the usual role of a parish rector.
Murillo led the Florida parish for 50 years
Born in 1934 in Granja de Torrehermosa, in the province of Badajoz, Murillo settled in Florida in 1962, four years before the founding of the Mare de Déu de la Llum parish. Since then, he was stably linked to one of the neighborhoods with the highest density and associative life in l'Hospitalet.
In addition to his pastoral work, he participated in the Board of Directors of the Florida Social Center as a member for festivities and maintained relations with the Catholic Working Youth. This involvement also placed him within the network of entities that articulated the daily life of the neighborhood.
Over the decades, the priest documented part of this experience in the book 50 years sharing and welcoming recounts the history of the parish between 1966 and 2006, a work focused both on his trajectory and on the evolution of the Florida neighborhood.
The parish hosted clandestine meetings during Francoism and the transition
During the final years of the dictatorship and the democratic transition period, Murillo allowed parish facilities and spaces of the Florida Social Center to be used for meetings and protest assemblies. The temple thus became a point of support for neighborhood and social activity in the area.
This public dimension of his work received institutional recognition in 2007, when he received the Premi d'Honor Ciutat de L'Hospitalet de Llobregat for his career and his commitment to disadvantaged groups.
"For me, the main thing has been to transmit the church's message outside the parish, in situ, on the 'job'. The message is not for the church walls but for the people" - José Murillo Tejada, priest and Premi d'Honor Ciutat de L'Hospitalet de Llobregat
Upon receiving that award, Murillo summarized with those words a line of work that he maintained since his arrival in La Florida. His name became associated with the Mare de Déu de la Llum parish and the neighborhood's Social Center for several generations.
In 2007, the L'Hospitalet City Council awarded him the Premi d'Honor Ciutat de L'Hospitalet de Llobregat for his commitment to disadvantaged groups.