Born into privilege and wealth, but later chose to thread a camino (path) of sacrifices, simplicity, and prayer, Javier Sartorius Milans del Bosch found his purpose and offered his life back to God.
The biographical documentary ‘Just Javier’ (also known as ‘Solo Javier’), which opens at select cinemas in the Philippines on August 12, explores the extraordinary life of mission, ‘brutal’ conversion, and contemplation of the Spanish aristocrat.
Produced by Adauge for Bosco Films, the 91-minute film tackles what drove Javier to search for a deeper meaning to one’s existence not externally but from within.
‘He tried everything and lived everything. He had relationships with women and with some men. He experienced it all. He used to say, ”From the menu of life, I’ve tried everything, but nothing fills the heart. Nothing truly fills my heart,” said Jordi Bosch Codina, president of the Javier Sartorius Association working toward opening his cause for canonization, in an interview with EWTN Vatican.
The film presents a complete canvas of Javier’s inspiring journey-from his early wild and restless life in Madrid to a promising paddle tennis and sales career in Los Angeles that he abandoned to pursue missionary work with abandoned and sick children in Cuzco, Peru, to his priestly formation in Toledo, then a life of poverty, silence, and solitude at the mountaintop Sanctuary of Lord in the Pyrenees, down to his last breath at the Cistercian monastery of San Miguel de Dueñas in León, Spain.
While he suffered from ‘a bleeding ulcer in his intestine,’ according to a report by EWTN’s ACI Prensa, Javier spoke nothing about his pain and suffering even during his last phone conversation with Rosa Muguiro, his first cousin, a day before he passed. She said he left everything all up to God.
Javier died in on June 21, 2006 at age 44, before he was to be ordained a Catholic priest.
The film’s director, Josepmaria Anglès said in the same report that Javier’s story that he portrayed in the film ‘is not simply something to remember-it is something meant to awaken the heart.’
‘Javier’s life is a relentless search for a life of fulfillment, a life of meaning-a life that isn’t just about accumulating pleasures and experiences, but about truly experiencing love and encountering God,’ Anglès said.
Tomás Farrell, who played Javier Sartorius in the film, considers the film ‘very thought-provoking’ for young people.
‘I feel it’s a very beautiful project because, in the end, Javier Sartorius can be someone who, when he becomes known, when people, especially young people, start to get to know him, I think, can ultimately help us see a life example that says, ‘Hey, go for it.’ That is, if you have a calling in your heart, something good, go for it,’ Farrel shared in a statement given to the Archdiocese of Granada.