Another ‘miracle’ in the church of Latre (Huesca): the face of the condemned businessman is once again that of San Matías

Saint Matthias, apostle and patron of architects or butchers, has gone from being represented by the face of a businessman convicted of fraud to being incarnated in a much more prosaic figure. The inhabitants of Latre (Huesca), a town of about 17 inhabitants, watch with astonishment the development of events around the church of San Miguel, a 12th century Romanesque temple to which Eduardo Lacasta Lanaspa had invited himself to be part of one of his frescoes embodied in the figure of the saint. After the controversy broke out, the case suffered a new twist this Friday and early in the afternoon it was discovered that a different face now appeared on Lacasta’s face and much more in line with the canon of this type of religious representations.

Lacasta’s absolutely recognizable face gave way to another anonymous one, with a graying beard and comparable to the rest of the images of this building that belongs to the Bishopric of Jaca. Sources from this institution are unaware of the authorship of this reform, for which a vinyl has been used that has been pasted over the previous one and it is now impossible to appreciate the features of Lacasta, sentenced to six years in prison for fraud in the Fincas case Atlanta. He had established himself as a philanthropist and took charge of the renovation of the roof and the paintings of the church market, but he did not ask permission for this from either the City Council or the Bishop. The residents of Latre called this action “egocentric” rather than disinterested.

Lacasta defrauded public administrations and individuals of more than 45 million euros. He was sentenced to 16 and a half years in prison for a continued crime of fraud, punishable insolvency, a crime against the Public Treasury and membership in a criminal group reduced to six thanks to an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office. As none of the sentences exceeded two years in prison, he only served three months and had to pay compensation of 6.6 million euros.

Municipal sources suggest that the change could have occurred early on Friday afternoon, between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., and residents of the area claim that they saw at least one vehicle around the church. It was a quick action, since the use of paints would have made it much slower and the author or authors accessed the temple, according to these sources, in a period of a few minutes. Now a meeting has been planned between the Caldearenas City Council, the municipality to which Latre belongs, the Bishopric of Jaca and neighbors to determine what actions to take from this moment on. The Government of Aragon does not have the power to mediate in this controversy since the church is not protected as an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC).