The Basílica de la Sagrada Família was a vision of a bookseller, Josep Maria Bocabella, founder of Asociación Espiritual de Devotos de San José. Bocabella intended to construct a church modelled after the basilica at Loreto after visiting the Vatican in 1872. On St. Joseph’s Day, March 19, 1882, the church’s apse crypt was officially opened thanks to donations.